Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 6 May 2015
Warm ups are over Page 26
Get Ready for Winter! Page 18-19
Woman run over on Queen St crossing
Looking for Nelson’s smartest
Page 4
Simon Bloomberg Another frightening accident on one of Queen Street’s courtesy crossings has again raised concerns about the safety of the crossings with a nearby retailer saying it’s only a matter of time before a pedestrian is seriously injured. Richmond’s Tracy Mahon suffered a broken ankle when she was hit and run over by a car on the courtesy crossing near Sundial Square on April 23. It was the second serious incident on the crossing in the last three years after a 10-year-old schoolboy was hit and pinned underneath a car in September 2012. “I was three-quarters of the way across the crossing and the car hit me in the hip and knocked me backwards,” Tracy who works at the ANZ Bank says. “I tried to get up but my foot was trapped under the wheel. “I was screaming really loud but I don’t think the driver heard me - he was an old guy and I think he was in shock. Then, after what seemed like forever, he drove forward but he did it suddenly and
Cindy Thompson is helping cheer up frustrated drivers waiting at the road works on State Highway 6 in Hope. Photo: Simon Bloomberg.
‘Smiley Cindy’ cheers up motorists Tracy Mahon with the shoe she was wearing when she was hit by a car on Queen St in Richmond. Photo: Simon Bloomberg. the tyre jerked my foot. “I didn’t hear anything crack because I was screaming so loudly but I knew it was broken. I’m a bit
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Drivers often get frustrated when they are delayed by road works but Higgins Contracting’s super-cheerful stop-go girl Cindy Thompson is doing her best to change all that. For the last three weeks, Cindy has been helping traffic flow at the road works at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Aniseed Valley and Edens roads. The road has been reduced to one lane while the intersection is being widened to make it safer and the stop-go team have been
busy keeping the traffic moving. But instead of becoming annoyed at the delays, many of the drivers are enjoying interacting with the smiley Cindy. Burly truck drivers can be seen laughing and car drivers tooting as Cindy waves, signals and dances her way through the day. “You have to be very aware of the traffic in this job but I also like to interact with the drivers,” Cindy says. “I have lots of people who smile and say ‘you have made my day’ - I feel I have
done my job if I can make one person smile.” Cindy, who also works as a stopgo girl for forestry companies, says she loves her job and, despite the theatrical signals and amusing dance moves, takes it seriously. “When I did the training for this job they said you have to smile and be happy because you are the face of the company. I guess I take it a little further than most,” she says. The road works are expected to be completed this week.
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