Has anyone else noticed there are way fewer effective cat’s eyes on UK roads than there used to be?

I remember them being everywhere, especially on A-roads, so you could see where you were going and especially the boundary in the middle of the road – but now a lot seem missing or dull. Is there a reason for that?


30 comments

  2. Gov funding, local council changing priorities, bigger and heavier cars causing more damage to the roadway and furniture then years before.

    We had a new strip of A road done by me and it’s littered with them.

  3. Same deal as the roadsigns covered in moss and the potholes. 15+ years of managed decline.

  4. Got damaged. Didn’t get replaced because council budgets have been cut and capped by central governments for decades and now three quarters of the entire budget goes on social care they’re not allowed to cut.

  6. Must be regional. There’s still lots around here in Wales.
    We’ve even got LED ones on some fast rural roads, so you can see the road curve off in the distance (and behind you!) even if you’re on dipped beam.

  8. This reminds me of driving on a country road a few weeks ago with my 10 year old daughter. There were some ongoing roadworks accompanied by a big red sign that read “cats eyes removed”

    It blew her mind 😂😂😂

  9. Not really.

    They resurfaced a load of roads round here last year, and all of them had the cats eyes replaced.

    The annoying part was they had the road closed to resurface it.

    Then left it a few weeks without markings.

    Then they closed it again to do the markings.

    Then left it a few weeks.

    Then closed it again to install the cats eyes!

    I will also add, the white paint they’re using now seems to be fairly reflective. Not as bright as cats eyes, but it certainly pops a bit more than I’m used to.

  10. Same as all the road markings that you can’t see any more as they’re all eroding away and not been re-painted ….

  11. I was driving across the country a few weeks, took a family member who hasn’t been driving for about 10 years. She asked about half way into the trip what happened to the cats eyes.

  12. I noticed this too not long ago. I guess as others say just another sign of the decline of the UK. Everything when it comes to infrastructure seems to be degrading and left to rot.

  13. If they’re not being replaced when they’re damaged it’s for the same reasons we have more potholes than ever: local councils have no money these days. But I don’t think there are any less than there used to be, in all honesty.

  14. Around here there’s no lane marking of any kind. Drivers guess where the centre of the road or give way lines should be.

    Years ago I would regularly drive late at night along that point where the A1 and M1 are together. Six lanes. As the only car I would drive down the middle put the full beam on to light all the cats eyes for every lane.

  15. The old cast iron and rubber cats eyes cost a fortune but lasted for decades.
    The newer reflector type are much cheaper but don’t last as long. Their lifespan often depends on how strong the road surface is that they are bonded onto. Whereas the old ones were under the surface and the rubber bits were replaceable.

    So in short cost cutting and greater use of grit covering rather than full surface repairs mean we have lots of broken bits of plastic at the side of the road rather than reflective studs in the centre.

  16. I was driving down the A1 the other month, late at night. Thinking to myself “I wonder why so many cats eyes are missing?” Has someone stole them? Some sections have no cats eyes for miles. 

  17. The paint they use these days is more reflective. As a result they don’t replace the cat’s eyes.

  19. I think it’s a county by county thing.

    Here in Derbyshire they are plentiful, but I was shocked (shocked I tell you!) driving near Grantham last year in the evening and seeing no cats eyes.

  20. More potholes instead – they discovered this was more effective at slowing you down 

  21. As a teen I used to walk along a busy road when the road was quiet and collect all the cats eyes that became dislodged and were pushed to the curb. I had hundreds of them

  22. Yet were supposedly one of the richest countries in the world and one of the safest countries in the world to drive in with:

    -Inadequate safe lighting for night driving as highlighted here by OP.

    -Roads literally crumbling apart with pot holes causing more damage to your car/a threat to pedestrian and your own safety. Some literally died because of our shit roads near me
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/experienced-rider-43-dies-after-33676856.amp

    -Roads with significance that are essentially narrowed down to 1 lane due to excessive parked cars due to a lack of designated residential parking.

    -Roads that are too narrow for the volume of vehicles driving on them and a nimby attitude to improve these roads.

    -Constant speed monitoring including sneaky positioning which is more dangerous than safe when you consider bad driving skills and reaction time from many considering our aging population and careless, arrogant driving from younger drivers meaning potential collisions with other vehicles & road users.

    -Poor road marking visibility in a lot of deprived and generally underfunded communities which causes confusion, bad decision making and general impairment in busy or unfamiliar areas.

    Honestly it’s miserable driving in the UK and Tbh, doesn’t feel any safer than countries like Italy and France as much as we slag them off. Yes these places may have bad drivers and narrow roads too, but we do it on a greater scale unfortunately.

    I think the person downvoting me is wearing their union jack glasses lol

  23. Reminds me of some great cats eyes in Rwanda. They had blue all the way around the roundabout plus red on the edges of the road and green in the centre. Brilliant for visibility. Countdowns on the red lights was also a great idea.

  24. Not needed now as all modern cars seem to have billion lumin headlights this making the road like daylight.

  25. I forget which country it was but I saw one place just used glow in the dark paint for their road markings, genius idea

  26. If it’s anything like the cateyes they’ve installed over here (IOM) they’ve been broken off and lost because they are cheap plastic crap glued down with a dollop of bitumen.

  27. I think with the size of potholes, these are the least of the council’s concerns

  28. Yes I’ve noticed. A local A road had zero functioning cats eyes *and* the white lines were barely visible! No street lights.

    Fun when driving at night with bright LED lights blinding you as well.

  29. Not needed anymore since you get blinded by those bright ass blue lights on all new cars

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