Kelly Fox lived beside one the busiest spots on State Highway 1 in Wellington. It's a notorious place for gridlock, which gave her an idea.
"Of all places I was in my parents pool, up on State Highway 1 - having a beer and looking at all the traffic lining up."
While in the pool watching traffic, she had a moment of clarity.
“I just sat there watching them and thought these people don’t know why they are stopped - what’s happening up ahead,” she said.
So on her phone she created a Facebook page in 10 seconds.
The page’s aim was to tell people what’s happening on the roads around Wellington, she gave it a practical name.
“It’s called Traffic Updates - Horowhenua, Kapiti, Wellington,” she said.
You can’t beat simplicity, Fox works in radio so knew people who knew traffic.
“I have a lot of contacts in a lot of places, road workers, paramedic, some police,” she said.
“They basically give me information if I need to know it.”
The page is full of amazing photos of traffic. The followers often give updates as well and she also collates all the official advisories in one place.
“People don’t want to read through all the stuff, they want to know why they are stopped and how long it is going to take,” she said.
The Facebook page has been going three years and it’s got rather popular.
“It’s just ticked over 50,000 members which I would never have dreamed of,” she said.
Fox’s page keeps bubbling away and she maintains it 24/7 for free.
“You get a lot of cool messages from people saying thank you, you saved me an hour in traffic. That’s exactly why I do it,” she said.
Fox started something small which is now something big.
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