Cat's Eyes/Road Studs, their purpose, types and material
Articles > Cat's Eyes/Road Studs, their purpose, types and materialWhat are road studs?
When you are driving, you see reflective objects on the road. These objects reflect the light of traffic in order to make the road visible to the driver. These are also called reflective studs or cat’s eyes. These studs are called cat’s eyes, because of their cat-eye design. The studs were first-time designed in the design of the cat’s eye in the UK in 1934. From a far distance, the studs only reflect the light to make the driver observe the curves and corners of the road, but as you draw nearer to these studs, they look like a pair of cat’s eyes. The purpose of the road studs is to enable the drivers to completely judge the form of the road. In the night time, the driver is unable to see the road alignments, ends, and corners of the road. Because of the lack of road lights, it becomes necessary to install the road studs. The road studs do not need any energy to light. They reflect the light of traffic and enable the driver to view the complete sketch of the road.
What are road studs meant for?
As mentioned in the above introduction lines, the only purpose of the road studs is to guide the drivers on how to drive, where to turn, and what lane of the road to adopting. Following are some fundamental purposes of the road studs:
- Road studs are energy free alternatives the road lights.
- Road Studs guide the drivers where the road turns and where to turn the vehicle.
- There used to be different lanes in the road, each lane is specified for a particular speed. The lanes of the roads are differentiated by means of a row of road studs.
- Roads studs highlight the sudden turn in the road. With the help of road studs, the driver becomes able to control the vehicle timely.
- Elevated road studs are also used as a speed breaker. In cities, elevated metallic studs are installed on the road to reduce or control the speed of vehicles.
- The row of road studs in the banks of the road clarifies the span of the road. Sometimes at the corners of the roads, the drivers lose control because of not fully judging the road boundaries. The presence of road studs highlights the boundaries of the road.
Disadvantages of Road Studs:
Although the advantages of the road studs are more than their disadvantages, however, the drawbacks can not be fully avoided. Some of the drawbacks are as under:
- Loosely installed metallic cat’s eyes/ road studs may cause accidents. In the UK, a loose road stud slipped off the tire of a vehicle, hit a man, and killed him.
- They are more expensive to install, and their prices are going high simultaneously with their rising demand.
- Some of the road studs/ retro-reflective pavement markers/ cat’s eyes are solar wave-captor and charges with solar energy to light LED in the night. The LED is so bright that it can create an invisible flicker that is picked up by the brain and cause photosensitive epilepsy.
What do different colors of road studs mean?
Road studs come in four colors:
- White-colored studs augment lane lines.
- The yellow-colored studs augment the dividing lane and separate the lane of opposite traffic.
- Red-colored studs augment the left-hand edge lines.
- Blue colored studs are installed by local councils and are meant to mark the position of hydrants and access to the water supply.
Types of Road Studs on the basis of Material used in them:
Three types of materials are used in road studs. One is plastic made road stud, the second is aluminum road stud, and the third type of road studs are made up of Road stud with an electronic device.
- Aluminum Road Stud:
Aluminum road studs have reflective objects installed within the aluminum road stud. The aluminum road studs are more durable and strong. The reflective objects are fixed in the studs, which possess the reflective pigments in them.
- Plastic Road Studs:
Plastic road studs are made up of plastic. They are less durable and vulnerable to a load of traffic. The reflective pigment is added to the road studs to get the result achieved.
- LED Road Studs:
The LED road studs are wave captors and get charges with solar light, and at night LED starts lightning. They are not reflective, but rather they emit light of their own. They are more visible than the rest of the road studs. They can be viewed from a long distance.
Material Used in Reflector:
There are three types of reflecting materials are used in reflectors of road studs. Reflective sheet, Plastic Reflector, and Glass Beads. Among them, the Glass Beads are long-lasting and used for long-term purposes, while the reflective sheets and plastic reflectors have a very short life span. The lateral two types of loose reflectivity with the passage of time. Therefore, they are used only for short term projects.
Read also:
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- 7 Types of roads on the basis of material used
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- The Science of Self-Driving Cars
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