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April 2010, saw the 120th anniversary of the birth of the man who took a humble piece of glass and turned into one of the major road safety technologies which has gone a long way to see the prevention of many potential car accident compensation claims.
Percy Shaw, OBE, was born in Halifax West Yorkshire, on 15th April 1890 and died on 1st April 1976. He was an inventor and a businessman and in 1934, he patented the reflective road stud, better known as the "cat's eye".
Car accident prevention extraordinaire
There are several versions of what exactly inspired Shaw to create the important road safety device, but whether you accept the notion that it was his car lights reflected in the eyes of a cat on the road ahead, or the noticing of roadside reflective markers which led him to develop the road stud, it has to be maintained that this particular invention has been one of the most successful driving aids ever.
In the early 1930s Shaw had set up a road repair business, but having then been inspired to invent the reflective road marker he faced several challenges in making it marketable.
His eventual prototype design comprised four glass beads placed in opposing pairs, embedded within a rubber casing mounted on a cast iron base.
Each unit would then be fixed into the road to reveal the road lanes in the dark.
The units needed to be extremely durable and relatively maintenance-free, and Shaw cleverly devised them so that if a vehicle's wheels ran over the marker, the cat's eye would be pushed down into the unit's base. This had the effect of not only, protecting the reflectors, but also providing a small audible and tangible bump which would alert the wandering driver to his position on the road.
Plus, as rain water naturally collected in the unit's base, the rubber acted like a squeegee blade placed in front of the glass beads and so, whenever the reflector unit is depressed, the cat's eye's are cleaned, like a windscreen wiper blade on a car or the blink of an eyelid.
Shaw's invention enabled people to drive safely in the dark and so has ultimately been credited with having saved thousand's of lives from being affected by death and personal injury and subsequent car accident compensation claims.
Making a car accident claim with YouClaim
Although road safety has for a long time been a major concern worldwide and the development of equipment to keep drivers and other road users safe is ongoing, car accidents still happen with alarming frequency and the numbers of people who receive serious personal injury or die each year in road traffic accidents is still a cause for great concern.
If you have been injured in a RTA which was not your fault you may be eligible to make a claim for car accident compensation with the expert personal injury solicitors at YouClaim.
As a no win, no fee firm all our compensation lawyers work for your case but you won't be charged a penny for their services, win or lose. And, in a won case you are guaranteed to receive 100% compensation.
Every solicitor on our UK panel is governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and their professionalism and experience is second to none.
Call us today on 0800 10 757 95 to talk about the possibility of embarking on a car accident compensation claim with YouClaim. We are here to help online or over the phone.
