Seven years ago Reno Lia had an accident that left him with with a leg injury that made finding employment difficult.
He had been a hairdresser in Shepparton for 40 years, so had a knack for talking to people, which he said was a handy prerequisite to being hired as a school crossing supervisor about four years ago.
“My wife reckons I’m a social butterfly,” Mr Lia said.
“You’ve got to be able to talk to people.
“And talking to the kids is great.”
Greater Shepparton City Council employs around 30 school crossing supervisors in the area, who are assigned a school crossing and work a couple of shifts a day on school days at it, providing safe passage from one side of the road to the other for students, their families and other pedestrians in the community.
Mr Lia is posted at Guthrie Street Primary School, where his own children attended many moons ago.
“It’s funny, a lot of the mums there are old enough to be my kids’ age and a lot of them went to Guthrie Street (Primary School) when my kids went there,” Mr Lia said.
“The parents are great.
“It takes a few weeks and then you can share a joke with them every morning.”
Mr Lia said he knew many in the school community by name now and they knew him.
His message to drivers always, but emphasised during National Road Safety Week this week, was to “just slow down”.
“It’s (a) 40km (speed limit) in school zones, but not many people do 40,” he said.
Though thankfully Mr Lia hasn’t seen any close calls in his time working as a school crossing supervisor, he said he could always sense danger if the sun was in a driver’s eyes or they were distracted, which was usually once the after-school crowd had somewhat cleared.
He said National Road Safety Week was a reminder of what, how and why school crossing supervisors did what they did.
“Even if we didn’t get paid, I’d do it as a volunteer,” Mr Lia said, with a laugh.
“It’s a great part-time job.
“I would definitely recommend it to other people, but you do need to be a people person.”