A man was fighting for his life in hospital last night after being struck by a car on a main road in the outskirts of Inverness.
Emergency services were called to the incident on the B862 Dores road, near Holm Roundabout, at about 9.45am.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that the incident involved a collision between a BMW 4×4 and a 50-year-old male pedestrian.
She added: “The man was taken to Raigmore Hospital where he is being treated for serious injuries and is deemed to be in a life-threatening condition. The female driver of the BMW wasn’t injured.”
The road was closed for more than four and a half hours to allow paramedics to assist the casualty and scene investigators to carry out their work.
Yesterday at the scene, the grey BMW could be seen in the middle of the road as crash scene investigators examined the vehicle and the area around it.
The road was closed and cordoned off with police tape but reopened at about 2.30pm.
Last night, Inverness Ness-side councillor Norrie Donald, who lives in Dores and has complained about this section of road in the past, said: “I hope that this person makes a full recovery. It’s a really dreadful thing to have happened, especially at this time of year.
“There are a lot of people who walk down that bit of road and it’s extremely dangerous. I have seen couples walking dogs round these corners and people regularly running along the road. If you are driving out of town and someone is on that bend it’s very difficult to see beyond the bend.
“The bend where this has happened is lethal and the conditions of the verge and the road are shocking. People have to swerve away from the verge and the whole thing needs doing up.
“Now that something has happened there might be a rush to come out and start fixing it, but it’s too late.”
Mr Donald also said that he believes the speed limit on this section of road should be lowered from 60mph to 40mph.
He added that he plans to raise the issue at tomorrow’s City of Inverness area committee, where members of the authority’s roads department are due to give a presentation.
There is no suggestion speed played a part in yesterday’s incident.
The police spokeswoman added: “Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the man walking on the B862 in the vicinity of Holm (walking in the direction of Dores) to make contact on 101.
“Inquiries are continuing to establish the full circumstances and a further update will be issued when information is available.”
Earlier yesterday afternoon the A82 Inverness-Fort William road was closed for about an hour at Laggan Bridge due to a fault in the structure, resulting in queues of traffic.