Well it’s been a couple of months since we last spoke to Gavin, and true to form he has been far from idle. This week specifically, he was demonstrating the benefits of his app - ‘Pedestrian Neatebox’ - in front of the Parliament.

Quick question: Why did the MSP cross the road?

Answer: Because he was trialling Pedestrian Neatebox.

Bad joke? I think not. Dennis Robertson (Pictured above, with Gavin) was just one of several MSPs who took time out of their busy schedule to step out of the Parliament to meet Gavin as he was putting his invention to the test.

Quick recap

A former guide dog trainer, Gavin took a sabbatical year to develop his invention that has been given the name Pedestrian Neatebox. What does it do?

When a person who is visually impaired gets to a road crossing, they first have to find the button to press to cross. Having pressed it, they then have to hold on to the tactile cone underneath it to know when to cross (did you know it even existed? I didn’t). They have to reach the pavement edge, made more complicated if they have a guide dog as it is trained to stop at pavements. Then they practically have to charge across the road before the green man stops flashing.

It is impractical, as sometimes the button to press is literally 10 feet away from the pavement edge. It is unsafe, because it leaves little time to cross, plus if done fast it may confuse the guide dog and it might not stop the next time it comes to a pavement edge. Some visually impaired people simply take their chances and walk out into the road when they can’t hear any traffic nearby.

Pedestrian Neatebox uses proximity aware technology on your phone to send a signal that activates the crossing. When it goes green, your phone will either vibrate, speak out lout, or both to let you know you can cross. No need to search for the pole. No need to cling onto the tactile cone. No need to detrain your guide dog. No need to take risks just to get across the road.

Click here for the full story.

This week

It’s close to a year since Gavin made this his full time endeavour, and he’s garnered a lot of praise and awards from all sides. This week he was finally demonstrating the Neatebox in action. Dennis Robertson, who is the MSP for Aberdeenshire West, is visually impaired and uses a guide dog. He was one of the first people to appear on the scenes to try out the Neatebox, and he was clearly impressed by what he found. Joan McAlpine, MSP for the South of Scotland (pictured on the right, with Gavin), joined us not long after and was also equally delighted with Neatebox. Neither politician lost any time in expressing their admiration on Twitter.

There was a steady stream of people throughout the day, including business people, a representative from the RNIB and even local workers were taking advantage of their 5 mins break to see Neatebox in action.

Over the next few weeks we will be sharing footage we shot on the day over bespoken and other social media, including a one on one interview with Gavin.  So keep an eye out.

Neatebox has been going tremendously well since its inception. But Gavin has thus far been funding it largely out of his own pocket and is keen to get further investment to carry it to the next stage. If you are interested or think you might be able to help him, click here to contact him via his website or drop him a message over bespoken. And as always, comments are welcome below.