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Was on the Saddle Road tonight, to & from the Mauna Kea Visitor Center. There were fantastic reflectors all the way down to Hilo on the center line and the shoulder lines - I think they're part of the new construction. It made the night driving and visibility so easy on an otherwise unlit road. So much safer! We need these kind of super bright reflectors (I think they're called Benson reflectors) on Hwy 132 Kea'au to Pahoa. I think it would prevent a good percentage of accidents (there were two that we passed just tonight). Currently there are very few street lights on this stretch and the reflectors - only along the center line - are dim as hell.
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You might mean "Botts' dots" which are used in many US states and think they are here as well. I agree with you that the reflectors on the Saddle Road are great, but suspect they haven't ended up like most reflectors elsewhere on the island because the traffic flow is much less there and of course they are much newer.
Botts' dots don't tend to last long and often end up scattered in the road, something I see here quite often. So am just going to go back to the old place for a moment and wonder why cat's eyes aren't used here. That's the term for an invention made in the UK in the 1930's and you'll find on most roads there and around the world. They are reflectors embedded in the middle of a road and you know the really good thing about them? Whenever someone drives over them they don't just spill out into the middle of the road like the ones here. They have a small rubber dome on them and if a car drives over them the rubber deforms and cleans the reflector lens. If it's raining the cleaning process is even more efficient. I think it rains here from time to time.
I don't know how much more expensive cat's eyes are compared to Botts' dots, but they last for decades and rarely end up scattered all over the place after someone decides to change lane.
Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/
