Umar Khalid
Through your esteemed paper I would like to bring a very serious problem to the notice of NHA authorities. The reflective road studs or “cat’s eye” that are used in the world to mark the lanes are used as speed breakers in Pakistan. Main purpose of cat’e eye is to warn the driver, especially during reduced visibility, by giving a vibration feeling to him when he drives over them, that he is wandering out of the lane/road. But in Pakistan in city and on GT road they are installed, without any previous warning signs, horizontally across the road and anyone crossing over them is likely to get a burst tyre. No wonder they are called as land mines by the drivers. These cat’s eyes protrude 2 to 3 inches above the surface plus their edges are sharp instead of round, as they should be, thus instead of being a safety device it has become a hazard. I have also noticed that at many places the cat’s eyes have broken but the nail that are used to fix the cat’s eye are still sticking out on the road making them like a spike strip – device used by cops to stop the vehicles by puncturing their Tyres. Therefore, I would urge the NHA authorities and our legislatures to ban use of cat’s eye as a speed breaker to avoid any fatal accident due to burst Tyres.
