Outdated: Commuters want heavy metal cat’s eye removed

Officials warn citizens to expect even larger instruments on roads

ISLAMABAD: Even as several roadblocks on major thoroughfares of the capital’s road were removed following court orders, commuters in the city on Tuesday demanded that the archaic, large metal reflectors installed on the Kashmir Highway near the Margalla Hotel be removed.

They contended that these cat’s eyes not only pose a serious threat to their lives, they also grievously damage their vehicles.

The road studs were meant to give a slip at a U-turn.

They were installed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the recommendation of the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP).



However, commuters pointed out that international road safety standards stipulate that heavy metal cat’s eyes are prohibited.

Shadab Khan a commuter, who travels on Kashmir Highway every day, expressed his concern over the road jewellery.

He said that the metal breakers had been installed on fast-lane and that it was just impossible to change lanes all of a sudden.

He narrated how he only narrowly avoided a collision while navigating these cat’s eyes the other day.

He demanded the authorities to remove these old-fashioned studs and asked to replace them with rubber breakers.

Another commuter, Shahbaz Kiyani, said the idea to provide a safe exit to the commuters taking a U-turn was appreciative, but installing heavy studs was an irrational move and a matter of grave concern.

When contacted, CDA’s North Roads Director Manzoor Shah said that these cat’s eyes were designed by their traffic engineering department to ensure that commuters slow their vehicles to avoid any untoward incident.



“This is the only way to get vehicles to reduce their speed on the roads,” Shah explained.

“There is a replacement of a tyre but not for a human life,” he went on to remark.

CDA Roads and Maintenance Wing CDA Khalid Asif explained that commuters should expect to see even larger and heavier metal cat’s eyes on the roads.

“Actually, their size is being increased to avoid the lane violation as a violator will receive a jerk as punishment due to its large size,” he said while nodding to the tandem efforts by the ITP to crack down on two-wheelers who violate lane regulations at will.

Commuters, however, have demanded to create more public awareness and create road sense to control unruly traffic rather than resorting to the use of such instruments on the road which can cause damage to their property.  

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2018.