Solar-powered cats' eyes are a major breakthrough on road safety, according to a councillor who was a road accident victim.

Diana Ludlow at the stretch of the A4012 that has been used to test new solar-powered cats eyesThe new cats eyes store energy during the day, switch on at night and do not need headlights to light them up.

Thame town and Oxfordshire county councillor Diana Ludlow said: "I'd like to see them on every road - they could be life-savers."

Cllr Ludlow, of Broadwaters Avenue, Thame, spent six months in intensive care and a long period in a wheelchair after being seriously injured in a crash in October 1998.

She still suffers the effects of the accident.

Cllr Ludlow backed a county council initiative to have the new cats' eyes installed as an experiment on Thame Park Road.

The road, which winds past Thame Park between Thame and Tetsworth, has a bad accident record with three fatalities and several injury accidents.

Mrs Ludlow's husband, Robert, was hurt in a crash on that road.

She said: "The new cats' eyes can be seen defining the line of the bends in the distance and that must make things a lot safer for everyone."

**Picture: Jon Lewis