Ad-hoc traffic cop a show-stopper

Kloof resident John Atkinson directs the flow of traffic at a busy Hillcrest off-ramp intersection yesterday morning.

Kloof resident John Atkinson directs the flow of traffic at a busy Hillcrest off-ramp intersection yesterday morning.

Published Apr 16, 2015

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Durban - A public-spirited motorist who directed traffic at a Durban intersection when the signals were out has become a hit on Facebook.

The Upper Highway page has had more than 500 likes after Tracy Hollingsworth posted a picture of him. None of the posters knew his name until the comments and praises for his traffic bottleneck alleviation grew on Tuesday.

The Daily News spoke to traffic saviour John Atkinson, 23, a trainee manager at Hillcrest Oxford Fresh Market. At first he said he did not want publicity for his actions, but then thought it would be good if people read about his act of kindness and followed suit in their everyday lives.

“I wake up in the morning and go through my social media sites. This week it had horrific images of all the attacks on foreigners in Durban and a host of other negative feedback on government corruption. I felt so upset and down.”

While driving towards Hillcrest he had to follow the traffic backlog with other frustrated motorists. Atkinson noticed the traffic lights were not working and there were no police directing traffic.

EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

“Something deep down said that I needed to direct traffic. I mounted the curb, parked my bakkie and got into action. Within 20 minutes the congestion was clear. The response was emotional for me. People smiled, hooted, waved and gave me a thumbs-up. It turned my day around. I am sure it was a mutual feeling,” Atkinson said.

He then drove further along the road where anther bottleneck was created, and again helped. He spent more than half an hour directing traffic.

“I was not doing it for fame. I would just like to thank everyone in that upper highway area for being so thankful and understanding while I tried to make their day easier,” he said.

He was forced to take a R10 tip from a motorist and was thrown a reflective vest by another. Several Facebook commentators said “give that man a Bells”. Atkinson joked that he had not received any yet.

“I hope more people can take something from what I did. We can’t just go by every day and complain about life. You have to take life by the horns and do what you want, I don’t want people to be negative and talk badly about our lovely rainbow nation. I want people to work together to make our home a better place.”

HASHTAG

He plans to start a hashtag for social media. If you see someone doing an act of kindness, acknowledge it and take a photo, upload it to our social media network and say #thankyou #youmadeadifference.

FACEBOOK COMMENTS

- Wayne Lion-Cachet: It is nice to see someone with a drivers licence directing traffic. Help solve the problem rather than complain about it is a good attitude.

- Michelle White: He should be nominated for Random Act of Kindness.

- Carryn Tennent: What a happy trail of messages – so nice to see people helping and then others taking the time to appreciate. We can all take a leaf from that book.

- Tracy Hollingsworth: So many people were saying thanks to him and giving him the thumbs-up so he was definitely appreciated. He might have a full time job there during load shedding though. You did a terrific job.

- Trish Stonell Malan: Hillcrest was crazy this morning. I eventually pulled off at the post office and waited for about half an hour until the rush hour traffic subsided.

- Mohammed Afdhal Gangat: Awesome! If everyone plays their part and does a little extra we can all make it a better place for everyone. Give that man a bells

- Lesley Ann Ridgway: And he was doing the directing with a positive and happy attitude. Thank you so much

- Lana Wilhelm: Wonderful initiative! But (sorry) where are the metro when they know load shedding is going to happen especially at peak times!?!?

- Tibby Burger: The times we live in, you have to take matters into your own hands to get anything done and well done to this chap for taking the initiative while metro police probably still sleeping in their warm beds (what a joke of a force they are).

- Gwenythe Seymour: Thank you so much. I was among THAT traffic snarled up this morning. You directed traffic like a PRO!!!

Daily News

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