The saga of the missing Catseyes from Isle of Wight roads that have been resurfaced by Island Roads continues.
Following our report last week, OnTheWight has been seeking to get further clarification from both Island Roads and the Isle of Wight council as to why some roads that previously had Catseyes, now don’t.
Questions you’d hope would be clearly answered given the important safety measure that Catseyes bring to many roads on the Island.
Frankly, it’s been pretty difficult to get straight answers to simple questions.
Missing Catseyes
To summarise, it seems that Island Roads have not been returning Catseyes to certain roads they have resurfaced.
PR man for Island Roads, Gavin Foster, told OnTheWight last week that Island Roads would have to seek permission from the council to not replace Catseyes to roads that had been resurfaced, but went on to add that no permissions had been sought.
Not replaced, without permission?
So it appears Island Roads have been getting away with removing these safety devices (known as assets) and then not seeking permission to leave them off after resurfacing a road.
It’s unclear if the council had noticed this.
Do you feel less safe when driving at night?
After publication of our report last week, a number of Islanders shared their views on the removal of Catseyes from our roads.
They told OnTheWight how they’ve recently felt less safe driving around the Island at night and now realised it was because of the disappearance of Catseyes.
IWC: “Currently liaising with Island Roads”
Earlier this week, the Isle of Wight council (IWC) confirmed no requests had been received from Island Roads to not replace Catseyes on any roads they have resurfaced (See what we mean about confusing?).
Although IWC told OnTheWight it wasn’t easily to hand, they are looking into whether they hold details of all roads that contained Catseyes prior to the PFI contract commencing on 1st April 2013.
Are the council concerned?
We asked whether the council was concerned that these safety measures had been removed by the PFI contractor without permission, the council told OnTheWight,
“The council takes the safety of motorists seriously and we are currently liaising with Island Roads to review and agree the programme of works for the replacement of cats eyes/road studs.”
IWC didn’t comment on how long these discussions had been occurring.
