A bloke who directed traffic with a pool noodle during a blackout in Sydney has been hyped as a local hero.
On Monday, wild weather caused trees and power to go down in Sydney’s south, which included the traffic lights at a busy intersection.
Matt Roy told 10 Daily that shortly after he had driven home from work, he decided to head to the 6-lane, blacked-out intersection at Kingsway and Sylvania Road in Miranda to help.
All hail the Pool Noodle Traffic Controller! (In terms of people from the Shire trying to show leadership and organise things he’s arguably doing a rather stand-up job!) https://t.co/KR1OoFv5WU pic.twitter.com/YTLXgMWpmZ
— Eliza Barr (@ElizaJBarr) January 20, 2020
“Even with the lights on, it’s a pretty sketchy place and I thought the one thing I can do is to get the lights moving,” he said.
“As I was running out the door, I saw a pool noodle and I thought, that’ll do.”
Mr Roy reckons he helped direct about 800 cars over a 2-hour period, helping emergency services, ambulances and police get through.
“I’m not a certified traffic controller but I know that intersection well so I could work it out,” he said.
He also got a lot of support from local commuters – someone gave him a high-vis vest and others brought him water and Gatorade.
