There was rush-hour chaos yesterday morning at a busy Inverness crossroads after a Land Rover crashed into a set of traffic lights in the early hours, knocking all of the lights out.
The accident, which involved one vehicle, happened just before 4am at the junction between the A82 Tomnahurich Street and Kenneth Street. A police spokesman confirmed that there were no injuries as a result of the collision.
A full repair job to the damaged signals will take place in the coming weeks.
A Bear Scotland spokeswoman said they were alerted by police at 4.30am and went to the scene to put traffic cones up around the damaged traffic signal, as well as “no traffic light” signs. Temporary pedestrian traffic lights were installed by their incident response team yesterday evening until full repairs can be completed.
The spokeswoman added: “We’re now in process of arranging for permanent repairs to be carried out at the damaged signals as soon as possible.”
Inverness West councillor Bill Boyd said he was unsatisfied with the cardboard signs erected yesterday which simply showed a lights sequence scored out by a line.
He said that yesterday’s incident highlighted a need for alternative pedestrian crossings on the A82 near to the Scotmid shop on Glenurquhart Road and by Central Primary School on Kenneth Street.
One Inverness resident, who did no want to be named, was in the area at about 9am yesterday morning. He said: “Cars were streaming through in all directions and pedestrians were having to run across the road. It was chaos. It’s a trunk road and there are heavy goods vehicles and buses going through, which makes it dangerous.
“It might have been useful to have someone standing in there to make traffic stop and start, to give everyone a fair chance of getting through. I came back there from town at about 11.30am and nothing like that was happening.”
Yesterday the traffic light could be seen lying on the road, having been smashed away from the cement block which had once secured it into the ground. There was also some wiring exposed and the metal pole holding the traffic light was badly bent.
The Bear spokeswoman added that their electrical contractor attended the site yesterday morning to isolate the electrical signals.
