Cat’s eye

Across the word road studs are used to mark the lanes, however, in our country they are being used as speed breakers. The main purpose of cat’s eye is to warn a driver especially during reduced visibility, by sending a vibration that can be felt in the seat or in the steering wheel when he drives over them, that he is wandering out of the road. But in Pakistan these studs are installed horizontally across the road and anyone crossing over them is likely to get his vehicle’s tyre burst. No wonder many drivers call them land mines.

These road studs are two to three inches above the surface plus their edges are sharp instead of round, as they should be, thus instead of being a safety device they have become a hazard. At many places the studs are broken but the nail that was used to fix them is still sticking out on the road making them like a spike strip – a device used by cops to stop the vehicles by puncturing their tyre. The NHA should ban this inappropriate use of cat’s eye as a speed breaker to avoid any untoward incident.

Umar Khalid

Rawalpindi