A Knaresborough woman whose powerful road safety talks have reached thousands of young people is celebrating a decade of changing lives.
Lauren Doherty BEM first began visiting schools in 2016 after deciding she wanted to use her own experience of a life-changing road traffic collision to educate children and young adults about staying safe near roads.
Ten years on, Lauren's talks have become a nationally recognised programme, earning her a British Empire Medal and an invitation to the King's Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Reflecting on the milestone, Lauren said:
"I think it's gone quite quick when we've been looking back at pictures.
We've done a lot. Getting my BEM, going to the Coronation and being in Westminster Abbey is crazy. They're definitely the highlights."
Lauren said the idea had always been hers, but it was Project Manager Rebecca Blunstone who helped turn it into reality.
"It was me that wanted to go into schools and talk to children, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it.
When I met Rebecca and we'd spoken about it, she knew that's what I wanted to do and she booked the first talk. It gave me that little push to get started, and I'm just very glad that she did."
The first presentation took place at Dacre Braithwaite Primary School, where Rebecca's daughter was a pupil at the time.
Rebecca said they deliberately started with a small audience to understand how children would respond:
"We were both quite naive to it. We didn't know how the children would respond.
We didn't want it to be too hard-hitting, but we wanted to make an impact."
She said it quickly became clear that Lauren's personal story had a far greater impact than traditional road safety messages.
"As a parent, teacher or police officer, we can talk about road safety, but when children see Lauren and see the reality of her life, that's what stays with them.
For older students we don't shy away from explaining what daily life is like. They need to hear that reality."
Over the past decade, Lauren's talks have expanded from primary schools to sixth forms, colleges and young driver programmes.
Retired Roads Policing Sergeant Paul Cording BEM said the sessions offer something emergency services alone cannot:
"When the story is so personal and so real, and you've got Lauren in the room where the students can see how the incident has affected her, you literally can hear a pin drop."
Assistant Chief Fire Officer at Menwith Hill in Harrogate, Tony Peel, first met Lauren while leading road safety work across Harrogate and Craven.
He said bringing Lauren into the partnership transformed how young people engaged with the message:
"We can talk about incidents we've attended, but we can't talk about actually being in one.
To watch Lauren grow, and Lauren's Road Safety Talks grow into a national asset, has been incredible.
She can touch so many lives in a way that only Lauren can through that lived experience."
Dacre Braithwaite Primary School has welcomed Lauren back on several occasions over the years.
Headteacher Jo Dobbs said her message remains just as relevant for rural communities:
"I was blown away by Lauren's honesty and how passionately she wanted to stop other children going through what she has.
Around here we don't have pavements in many places and we have narrow country roads, so the message is incredibly important.
Every time I hear Lauren's story there's a lump in my throat. It's such an important message, but it's also incredible what she's achieved over the last 10 years."
Looking ahead, Lauren hopes the next decade will be just as successful:
"If anyone had told us the things we've done over the last 10 years, I don't think we'd have believed them.
We'll see what the next 10 years brings, but hopefully we continue doing the talks and maybe expand to do some other things."
Listen to Your Harrogate's Pete Egerton speaking to Lauren and all those who have assisted with Road Safety Talks along the way:
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