By Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The death of Ashley Richards in 2012 as she was working the first day of her job as a flagger in a construction zone inspired a couple from Watrous to help make the job safer. 

Kim and Donna Kreutzer decided to create the Guardian Angel Autoflagger, a device that allows the flag person to operate the arm stopping traffic from a safe distance. They have one major new client, the Province of Saskatchewan. 

“When Ashley Richards got killed about eight years ago in Midale, they decided there had to be a better way to keep people safe,” said Edward Anderson during a news conference the morning of Sept. 7 when the province unveiled the new devices. Anderson is the marketing manager for Guardian Angel Autoflagger Manufacturing. 

“The secret to our machine compared to the other ones is it’s mounted on a truck or any receiver hitch and plugs into the trailer plug,” said Anderson. 

Unlike larger devices, the one created by the Kreutzers is easy to move around and more suitable for smaller jobs like highway patching. 

Set up is very quick and can be done without the operator ever having to be on the highway.

To run it, the flag person sits in the vehicle and moves the arm up or down without getting out and can move as needed. 

In the pilot program, Moose Jaw and Outlook will join Prince Albert in assessing how effective the devices are, the province said. 

This item is reprinted with permission from the Prince Albert, SK, Prince Albert Herald. For the complete article, click HERE

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