The lifting of most COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on Monday October 11 was fantastic news for the broader community, with people from all over Sydney wasting little or no time getting out and about as they strive to return to some kind of normality.

Once something we took for granted, gym sessions, meals at our favourite restaurants and even barbers, hairdressers and beauty salon appointments are now ‘dates’ which we will no doubt cherish in the future after going without them for the best part of three and half months.

As far as Yes I Can Renovations is concerned, we have never been busier with our building team doing the hard yards to catch up on work we had to suspend during lockdown, as well as starting on new projects.

One of the few downsides of Sydney’s recent ‘opening up’ has been a marked increase in the amount of traffic on our roads.

Mobility data referenced in an article in the Financial Review on October 15 revealed a recent increase of six percent of traffic on Sydney’s roads.

And this figure has undoubtedly surged higher over the subsequent fortnight, with more and more people returning to work and the kids finally back at school….hence the re-emergence of the ‘school run’ – the bane of those who use cars and other vehicles to get around Sydney for work purposes.

Despite the easing of most health orders, public transport usage remains down by as much as 42 percent, with many office workers who used to catch the bus or train still choosing to work remotely (or being instructed to do so by their employers).

Others have also obviously preferred to keep their Opal cards firmly nestled in their wallets and are driving to work instead, to negate the risk of any (COVID) infections on publicly run services.

Traffic Reports

We spoke earlier about people taking things for granted and a media service which many of us listen to several times a day - without even giving a second thought as to its origin - is traffic reports.

Radio traffic reports in this country have been around well over half a century but the technology has improved greatly over the past twenty years or so thanks to the efforts of a company called Australian Traffic Network (ATN) – the Australian division of Global Traffic Network.

ATN is by far and away the largest traffic report provider in Australia, reaching 84% of Australia’s commercial radio listeners.

Without a doubt the doyen of traffic reporters in Australia is Vic Lorusso, one of the most recognisable TV and radio reporters in Sydney.

Vic’s dulcet tones can be heard during morning and afternoon peak hour on a host of Sydney radio stations, letting you know where the accidents and bottlenecks are – the routes to avoid - and those where the traffic is flowing freely.

The 40 year old pioneered ‘airborne traffic reports’ in 2000 for ATN and ever since, he has also been the face and the voice behind the traffic reports on Network TEN’ Eyewitness News: First at Five.

His reports are always accurate and even if the road is ‘like a car park’ in the area where you’re driving, you don’t feel quite as frustrated as it’s like you’ve got an old friend telling you the bad news.

Vic has always taken his role very seriously and has spent countless hours over the past two decades driving and researching Sydney’s road networks – and the best alternative routes for you to use to drive to work (or back home) in the event of bottlenecks which are a fact of life once again now that our roads are back to normal.

Married with four children, Vic leads a very busy life, being ATN’s Chief Operations Officer in addition to his on-air roles.

A much sought-after guest speaker, he also holds a business licence for real estate and is a highly skilled auctioneer, being named Auctioneer of the Year at the 2016 Australian Real Estate awards.

Helping the less fortunate is also very high of Vic’s list of priorities, holding ambassadorships with several well-known charitable organisations and initiatives including Variety – the Children’s Charity; Redkite; Sydney Children’s Hospital, Miracle Babies Foundation; Diabetes Association of NSW; Cure Cancer Foundation the Special Olympics Foundation and the Northern beaches Women’s Shelter.

Sydney’s fastest growing and most innovative building company, Yes I Can Renovations is a proud sponsor of the Australian Traffic Network’s commercial radio coverage and we also feel very privileged to be associated with a community icon like Vic Lorusso.

• Caption: Best in the business. Australia’s pre-eminent traffic reporter on radio and TV, Vic Lorusso.