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Percy Shaw was born in Halifax in West Yorkshire, the son of Jimmy Shaw, a dyer's labourer, who worked at a local mill. When he was 14, he worked as a road mender. He patented the reflective road stud (cat's eye). The patent for the Catseye was registered in 1934 and, the following year, Shaw set up a company called Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd to manufacture his invention. In 1936 Shaw conducted a public experiment at his own expense by installing fifty Catseyes on a dangerous stretch of road outside Bradford. The number of accidents on the road fell sharply and local drivers attributed this to the visibility provided by Shaw's road markers. Concerned about the growing number of night-time road accidents, the Department for Transport staged a competition in 1937 to find a robust road reflector. Percy Shaw won the competition with the Catseye. At its peak the company employed 130 people to manufacture over a million Catseyes a year for export all over the world. By enabling motorists to drive more safely at night, Shaw's invention is credited with having saved many thousands of people from death or injury in accidents.  |
