Heathmont’s Ryan Purdie is restoring and donating traffic lights to kindergartens and schools

He’s the passionate Heathmont dad giving kids a fun way to learn road sense. But Ryan Purdie’s labour of love might come to an end if he doesn’t find a sponsor soon.

Ryan Purdie restores and donates traffic lights to kinders. Picture: Hamish Blair

He’s the passionate Heathmont dad helping the environment and giving children a fun way to learn about road safety.

Community care worker Ryan Purdie spends weekends in his garage restoring used traffic lights.

He’s been collecting the used lights from VicRoads for just under two years and repays staff with boxes of doughnuts.

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Mr Purdie said the lights were often damaged in accidents or taken down to be replaced with newer models.

“My kids were talking about lights one day when we were driving, and I thought about what happened to old road stock,” he said.

“It’s all usable and ends up in a big skip.”

After decorating his backyard for children Lilly, 10, and Elijah, 9, Mr Purdie started offering the restored lights to kindergartens and primary schools, along with talks on road safety.

Ryan Purdie at home with traffic lights on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, in Heathmont, Victoria, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

He’s since donated more than 100 sets across Australia and rescued more than a tonne of lights and parts from landfill.

“I know how important it is to talk about road safety, and it makes me feel good that I’m giving it to a school and also saving the planet,” he said.

Heathmont East kindgerarten was one of the first schools to get a set of lights and teacher Joyce Dunham said they were a huge hit.

“They (the children) watch carefully when walking towards them and remind each other and us to stop when the light is red,” she said.

Mr Purdie says each set of lights costs him roughly $50-$100 to restore, using supplies from Bunnings and transformers and sequencers he orders from the US.

But he fears his labour of love could be coming to an end soon if he’s unable to find a sponsor to keep costs down.

“It’s getting a bit expensive now… I want to do as many as I can, but I’m not sure about the future.

“If there isn’t (a sponsor), there isn’t, but if there is, I’d love to get some support.”

Details: “Traffic Lights for Kinders” on Facebook.