An Aberdeenshire mum has voiced her concern at the fact a busy pedestrian crossing has remained broken for almost two months.
The bustling junction in Inverurie which connects the B993 and St Mary’s Place has suffered from an inactive pedestrian crossing since the start of May and residents are increasingly worried after watching their children struggle to cross the road.
One parent, Karen MacLean, described the situation as “very concerning” especially as she regularly sees both young children and residents from a nearby care home struggling to negotiate the busy junction.
Mrs MacLean said: “Only the other day, I saw some young boys trying to cross the road, seemingly on their way to school, and they just stood there for ages.
“It is very concerning, I have an 11-year-old son who has to cross the road at least twice daily to get to school, there is a care home with elderly residents on the lane as well and I know they have also raised concerns.
“I spoke to the manager at Hays Court – the sheltered housing flats at the end of the road – and he said the residents were up in arms about it.
“And an elderly lady from Hays Court was trying to get across the road and said she regularly has to wait a long time to get across and it was really dangerous.”
Mrs MacLean added that engineers had been out on a number of occasions to fix the lights, but none of these attempts had been successful. She believes there is a genuine prospect of somebody being injured or worse in an accident.
She said: “It wasn’t that long ago that a young girl was knocked down crossing the road in Port Elphinstone and I don’t think anyone wants to see a tragedy like that happen again.
“I think the council is underestimating what a dangerous junction it is. It’s only a matter of time before there is an incident, because it is arguably the busiest junction in Inverurie.
“I think it’s ridiculous that this junction hasn’t been working properly for nearly two months.”
An Aberdeenshire council spokeswoman confirmed that they were aware of the fault and steps were being made to fix the crossing.
She said: “We are aware the crossing is broken and have contracted a company to come in and fix it.
“They are currently awaiting parts.”