Thank you for saving my life, Percy

I’d like to make a moment, if you’ll permit me, to offer thanks to the memory of Percy Shaw, a Yorkshireman from the town of Halifax. I don’t know if he was an especially upstanding or moral man, whether he was kind to others or donated a fortune to charity.

What I do know is that he invented something remarkably simple — something that has saved countless lives, and may well have saved me the other night.

Percy Shaw invented the cat’s eye or Catseye. This simple, reflective stud makes following the road so much easier at night, especially in poor visibility. The other night, I found myself with my mother on the R40 between Hazyview and White River. (I went away for a much-needed weekend break. We stayed at the The Winkler. Friendly service, excellent food, lots of Dutch tourists. Bit like 1652 all over again. The Dutch that is, not the food or the service.) The weather after we left the Phabeni Gate of the Kruger Park was awful, with a constant drizzle and drifts of thick fog swathed along the road. Driving a car without fog lamps — I’m using a hired Polo right now, ironic I know — made it especially challenging. At one point, I could see no more than one cat’s eye ahead. I’ve never been so focused on one little pinprick of red light in a ghostly halo of mist.

It was all that kept me from disappearing into the unfathomable darkness beyond.

The idea for cat’s eyes occurred to Shaw in the early 1930s, when he realised that reflective strips of metal in the road — tram tracks — made it easier for him to see where he was driving at night. Using the reflective lens had been invented by an enterprising accountant in 1927, he patented his invention in 1934 and Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd was established. Sales of this beautifully simple device took off after the British ministry of transport approved it, and eventually it found its way all to otherwise dark and forbidden roads over the world.

The cat’s eye is an item of genius. Relatively simple to produce and embed in the road surface, it uses no electricity and requires no special intervention to be effective. We need more of this kind of innovation: not just a clever idea, but the energy and drive to produce it and implement it.

Percy Shaw received an OBE in 1965 in recognition of his services to the United Kingdom. Today, I doff my metaphorical cap to him in recognition of his invaluable gift to the world.