Gregory Dixon: Meet the volunteer hazard response service patrolling Perth roads

A good Samaritan who offers a volunteer-run hazard response service says his actions make Perth’s roads safer, despite facing heat from authorities.

Gregory Dixon is the man behind Dixon’s Hazard Response, a free traffic control service attending to road incidents across Cockburn, Kwinana and Rockingham.

Mr Dixon told PerthNow he began responding to incidents and helping in his spare time after hours and on weekends, in addition to his full-time job as a traffic controller.

The 23-year-old lives with a form of autism spectrum disorder, formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome.

He says when the good deeds service launched, it became a reason to get out of bed.

“In 2019, I suffered quite a bit of bad depression,” he said. “One morning the doctor advised me to go out on a drive and I did and ended up removing a bunch of objects on the road and started as just that, then moved into helping people on the side of the road.”

Dixon’s Hazard Response says it can assist with a variety of traffic control issues, including attending to uncontrolled livestock roaming, broken down vehicles, reporting damage to local councils and collecting deceased animals.

Its social media pages market a free service that can provide a “sense of security and peace of mind” to people stranded on the side of dangerous roads, while co-ordinating with towing services and authorities.

Mr Dixon said he currently attends about three calls and 10 jobs on a weekly basis and has helped at about 200 jobs since his service started.

“I just started as someone that was a good Samaritan picking up stuff off the road,” he said.

“Then I got my traffic control certification and became a traffic controller.”

It’s a service not quite endorsed by WA road agencies.

A spokesperson from Main Roads WA said the State authority had repeated communications with Mr Dixon and that his accreditation did not mean he could legally respond to emergencies.

“Main Roads does not endorse the activities of ‘emergency response’ activities that are purportedly being undertaken by Dixon’s Hazard Response,” they said. “Dixon’s Hazard Response is not a registered traffic management company authorised to undertake emergency response activities on the road network.”

The spokesperson also said Main Roads WA had a team of “highly experienced and trained operators” who monitor hazardous incidents as part of a 24/7 incident response service.

But Mr Dixon contends his services are undertaken legally. He conceded he is planning to undertake additional traffic control qualifications requested by the State agency next month so that he can continue his service.

“I’m a good Samaritan so no qualification is actually needed,” he said.

Members of the public can call Main Roads 24/7 call centre on 138 138 to report an incident or for a free tow.