'I just hope it will not be the death of me' – partially-sighted man's fears at Inverness crossing
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A partially-sighted Inverness man fears for his life every time he uses the pedestrian crossing on Friars Bridge near the city centre.
The road is a dual-carriageway section of the A82 Inverness to Fort William road near Shore Street Roundabout.
However, traffic is only stopped one side at a time to allow pedestrians to cross.
It has to be treated as two stages, with the centre used as a refuge.
The audible beeps or voice message therefore cannot be used because the two sides are so close together the fear is the beeps or voice recording might lure people into the crossing when traffic is moving. Sighted people of course can see the green man lighting.
That is where the spinning cone devices come in, something Mr Fraser said he was not aware of until he complained to Bear Scotland who have responsibility for trunk roads.
They are small plastic or metal cones which are found on the underside of control boxes on most pedestrian crossings.
When the green man lights up to show traffic should stop and it's your turn to cross, the cone starts spinning. It has tactile ridges on it so visually impaired or deaf people can feel it spinning and know they have the right of way.
They have to stand with their hand on the cone and independently know they can cross when it spins, without having to get help from a passer-by, if there is one.
Mr Fraser said: "I never knew about the spinning cones, but it is still quite daunting knowing when to set off across such a busy road. A footbridge would be good, but pretty expensive I imagine.
"I often wait and listen to hear if the traffic has stopped, but now we have the electric cars and buses so it is still a big risk."
He said that Bear Scotland – which is responsible for the road – told him it would consider putting up signs warning drivers that disabled people might be using the crossing.
Mr Fraser said: "Another problem is that although the bridge is a 30mph limit, because it is a dual-carriageway many drivers seem to go much faster. I just hope it will not be the death of me.
"I try to walk up to town as little as possible to avoid the crossing, and use the bus instead."
A spokesman for Bear Scotland said: "The signal-controlled crossing at the A82 Shore Street Roundabout is a two-stage crossing facility that permits pedestrians to cross the A82 eastbound and westbound lanes independently.
"Audible signals are not appropriate for this layout/route. To mitigate the risk to visually impaired and blind users, tactile signals (rotating cones) are present on the underside of the pedestrian crossing control boxes."
