Rod Ammon: Welcome to the ResponderSafety.com podcast brought to you by the Emergency Responder Safety Institute, a committee of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association. To remain mindful of why we do this work, start every podcast with an update of emergency responders struck by fatalities. As of June 17th, 16 emergency responders have been struck and killed this year while assisting the public on the roadway. I know there have been other fatalities, injuries, and struck bys, quite a few in just the past couple weeks, but until those are confirmed, until we know more details, I don't usually like to put that out on the podcast, but be aware the past couple weeks have been rough and we really want all of you to do what you can to be as safe as you can out there on the roads. We have information on the loss of these responders and a memorial tribute available at respondersafety.com/fatalityreports. Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of all of these people. We hope you'll stop by ResponderSafety.com for more than 150 resources and training that will help you operate more safely at roadway incidents and educate the public. If you're aware of an incident where an emergency responder or emergency response vehicle was struck while working a roadway incident scene, please report it to us at reportstruckby.com. Your reports provide crucial data that will help us identify why struck by incidents occur and design new training and resources to mitigate those contributing factors. You can remain anonymous. Also, just a side note, the reporting and the data is going to become available soon. We wanted to make sure that we have been gathering as much data as possible over a period of time and that has been happening and more and more unfortunately reports have been coming in. But when you go to reportstruckby.com, there's going to be new public reporting that is going to be able to allow you to filter and create your own report that you can use. Powhatan County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Hughes became a public safety advocate and speaker after he was struck and critically injured on duty by a distracted driver. Deputy Hughes' dedication, courage, and resilience have earned him widespread recognition, including the Virginia Highway Safety Rising Star Award, the Cole Sydnor Trauma Survivor Giving Back Award, the Martin H. Schlosser Award for Traffic Safety Activism, the Mike Walter Memorial Officer of the Year, the YOVASO Shining Star Award for courage in speaking out and saving lives, and Drive Smart Virginia's Janet R. Brooking Memorial Award for Highway Safety Initiatives. Deputy Hughes is here to talk about his roadway safety advocacy work. Thanks for being with us today, Brad. Let's jump right in. We've worked together before on responder safety projects and it's good to have you back. When you speak to the community, I know you often begin by sharing your story, so let's start there and tell us about your struck by experience and how it changed your life, not only the physical and mental effects of your injury, but also your purpose moving forward.

Brad Hughes: In 2014, I responded to a 17-car crash and it was icy outside. So when I speak to individuals, I always ask them when it's inclement weather outside, do we speed up or do we slow down? And then I also go through the proper steps of making sure everybody complies with wearing their seatbelt and using their windshield wipers and headlights and et cetera, just to make sure that visibility is of the paramount. But on that day, I stepped out of my vehicle to make sure another officer was taken care of. And as I went to the back of my vehicle, I was struck by a pickup truck. And ultimately my right leg was taken off on scene and my left leg was removed once I got to the hospital. While I was in the hospital, I had to be resuscitated three times. So my heart stopped three times and each time the nurses and doctors never gave up. And the spirit from it within them pushed me forward while I was in the critical care unit to think about those that are also out here on the roadway. And just knowing that during that brief time that I was in there, I heard of so many different incidents that were occurring. So I made it my promise, my wherewithal to make sure I go out here and speak to drivers about the dangers of distracted driving, texting and driving, and emphasize the Virginia move over law. People understand that when our first responders are on the side of the road, they must slow down and they must move over because we have families just like you do, and we want to come home to our families just like you do as well.

Rod Ammon: I appreciate you sharing that and had to be rough to say the least, and well, we're grateful for all the work you do.

Brad Hughes: I appreciate it.

Rod Ammon: So how do you frame your experience as a survivor of a secondary incident struck by and use it to connect with your audience?

Brad Hughes: Well, with me coming out, especially in the wheelchair and they notice that I don't have my legs, a lot of people take it as it's somebody who is home from the war because in most cases that's what you see. So when they do see that and I try to put two and two together and I explain to them that, yes, I did not go overseas to lose my legs. Yes, I lost my legs here in the state of Virginia. So I lost to the war of what we call Route 76. And I make sure that people understand that these dangers occur every single day. And I make sure they understand that you're human. I understand that. Nobody wakes up that morning to go out here and do what has done to a lot of people. But you are the one they're in control of your faculties. You have the ability to keep your foot off that gas pedal. You have the ability to keep your hands on the steering wheel and pay attention. So we take all of that, we put it into play, and we try to make something positive out of the tragedy that they see in front of them. And a lot of people, they get it, they understand. But there are those that are out here who don't get it because they're not worried about it happening to them. And it can happen, which I tell a lot of people in three seconds because in three seconds you can take somebody's life and in three seconds it can change your life. And that's what it took in my life. It just took a mere three seconds.

Rod Ammon: Yeah, that's a powerful message. And I think a lot of your fellow responders feel like it is a war zone out there sometimes just trying to do the best you can and at the same time having to watch your back and deal with so many things. We're going to talk about two different sides of your work, the messages you share with emergency responders and the messages you share with the public. Let's speak to the emergency responders first. You've been what should be an emergency responder's worst nightmare, but many responders don't think it will happen to them. What's your take on that? What's the effect of that type of thinking?

Brad Hughes: I go back to Lieutenant Brad Clark. He was a lieutenant here in the state of Virginia for Hanover County Fire Department. Him and his crew responded to a crash on 295. It was a rainy, rainy night and they got off the apparatus, was dealing with a crash there, and Brad Clark noticed a tractor trailer coming towards him. He got his entire crew to get away from the apparatus, but unfortunately he lost his life behind it. And with that being said, not only did he lose his life, a firefighter who had just started lost his leg. Another firefighter was seriously injured. I'm not sure if he's back at work yet or not, but all that put into play and then the perspective is it can happen to you in that three seconds. Virginia right now, we are having a lot of first responders. Within the last month we have had a total of nine first responders hit. Nine. One had three first responders. When I mean first responders, I'm talking about our highway safety workers because I include them as first responders, just like I include our towing industry as first responders because they are the ones that get called out to come out and do a job that a lot of people don't want to do. And that's why they're heroes in my eyes. But yes, we've had that many people injured. I just got an email stating about one crash that occurred on July 7th where we had three VDOT workers that were struck by a tractor trailer, one lost his life and the other two were seriously injured. And it can just happen just like that. So I show everybody videos, current videos, not older videos, but current videos of these first responders out here. And I remind them that none of us are Chicago firefighters, none of us. Those are actors. Nobody around here has an S on their chest. Before you get off that apparatus, you need to make sure you look both ways. Look through your mirrors, look through your rear-view mirror. Check your surroundings before stepping out of that vehicle, reminding everybody through the traffic incident management, wear your PPE, make sure you have on that high vis equipment. Without those, the first thing will happen is once something happens, your lawyers, they'll have to fight the battle to show that you were wearing that item. If you're not wearing it, you can forget receiving any type of benefits. It's not going to happen. So it's always the who, what, when, where, why. But it all starts with you as a first responder, making sure you're taking care of yourself and your family.

Rod Ammon: Another great message, and some brutal statistics for one month. I was just doing an update on up until June. I think we had, what, as of the 17th of June, we already had had 16 emergency responders struck and killed this year. And as you attest to and as you've spoken about, I mean, so many others are hit and don't die but are affected and their families are affected for life. And then beyond that, all the equipment and all the other things that are so greatly affected by what's going on. I appreciate you sharing what you did. And I think the legal issues become more and more important all the time because people are being trained and they're aware and so is the law. So I think tied to that is the fact that so many emergency responders have what Cathy put in quotes here, this "go-itis", that mentally they have to charge in there right away. And it's understandable because your job is to save lives and render aid. What do you say to that?

Brad Hughes: I tell everybody, look before you go. Check your surroundings before you step off that apparatus. It is your job, yes, to render aid, but it's also your job to come home to your family and to make sure your crew is taken care of. Then when you get on scene and you're doing a scene size up, it's the responsibility of whoever's in charge to be those eyes and those ears while everybody is working. You need to have somebody who is paying attention behind you and not focused on the big picture in front of you. Traffic comes from behind you. Traffic's not going to come in front of you unless you're on a two-lane road. But even then, that individual needs to have their situation awareness and heightened awareness on guard the entire time. Teamwork, it's just like working like a NASCAR situation. The vehicle pulls into the track when it comes off the track, comes in the pit row, and you have a team of five who work together to get everything accomplished in a timely manner and to get it back on the track. That's the same way it needs to be when you're working a crash scene. The team works together in a timely manner. Somebody's got to be paying attention at all times because without that, you just never know what's going to come behind you until it's too late. And not only that, but making sure we have our advanced warning signs up, making sure we have our cones that are out, all of our lights are working properly. And if we put up signs, making sure the signs are further down the road so that when people come up on a scene or come up on that sign, they know within about 500 feet or less than that, you're coming up on a crash or you're coming up on construction work. We have to make sure our advanced warning signs are out and displayed each and every time we're on the roadway.

Rod Ammon: As a driver, I've seen the change and it does help me as a driver. I work with you guys all the time, but I'm also on the road a lot and I really do appreciate the advanced warning. You're talking a lot about TIM, the traffic incident management and other people, some of the things that we call it, the TIMA where you're working. Just a moment to be able to say, hey folks, out at Responder Safety Learning Network, you can get the TIM certificate, which is accepted nationally by a lot of folks and it's incredibly valuable. Anything else you want to say about the TIMA or you've talked a lot about situational awareness and advanced warning. Any other things that you feel that you'd like to strengthen the message of how to deal with that TIMA?

Brad Hughes: I really wish that that was part of the driver education course. When our drivers are out here and they're learning how to drive, I wish that was part of it. Just knowing about advanced warning signs and what the signs mean and a different color of signs. Here in the state of Virginia, if we have an emergency scene, it's a hot pink colored sign instead of having that normal orange color sign. That pink color sign makes people realize that there's something different. And if there are first responders that are out here, whether they're local or they're volunteers, they need to take the time to take these courses. These courses are out here, like you said, they're free to take. And that free means you have freedom to learn something and to live your life free. Because if you don't, you don't know it, you could have the incident that it's going to occur and you're going to lose your life. And we don't want to see our first responders losing their lives. We want to see them retire. We want to see them do the things they need to do to have that career longevity and make sure their legacy. That's the key word out of anything that you do in life is leaving that legacy behind so that everybody can not only respect who you are then, but who you are now and continue the fight so that we can all come home alive to our families.

Rod Ammon: Strong words, and thanks for that, Brad. I want to talk a little bit about the mental and emotional aspect, not just of what you've been through, but of the emergency services job in general. Emergency responders see a lot of difficult things. And I'm wondering how do you process that? How do you process your struck by experience?

Brad Hughes: Well, even just responding, let's take it back. Even responding to your normal everyday crashes, the crashes that we see now are horrific. Before they really weren't as bad as you normally would see, but now they're really horrific because the speeds have increased. People are taking their eyes off the road, they're driving distracted, they're not paying attention like they should be. And then once a crash occurs, we are seeing a lot more rollovers. So after the first responder has responded there and in route back to the station, a lot of first responders feel like they can't talk about it. They can't talk to somebody because if they do, then they might get benched for it. And it shouldn't be like that. We should be able to have an open dialogue with our counterparts because you never know, they may be feeling the same pressure that you're feeling, the same pain that you're feeling. Nobody wants to see the death of a child and then you have to go back to your station or sit in your patrol car and think about it. You should have the ability to talk to somebody and to deal with it. And at that point in time, being able to talk about it right then and there, it's a great concept of making things a little easier for yourself. I know a lot of departments has started with peer groups and those things have been just stupendous. And it gives people an opportunity to talk to a peer counselor even though they're a fellow brother and sister who wear the same uniform. They understand what you're feeling. When I had my incident, the first thing they want to tell me is get the guns out of the house before he comes home because of the medication that he's on. Well, as a first responder or a police officer, that's the wrong thing to say because you're taking medication. You're not going to find everything that somebody has in their loft or in their house because we hide things, but it shouldn't be like that. The first thing they should be wanting to do is help you go through the transition of knowing that, "Hey, you lost your legs. What are you thinking about now?" I sat there in that hospital for three months and though about how am I going to take care of my family? How am I going to move on? Because nobody wants to go through this. Nobody wants to say at 40 years old, my life is over with because it wasn't. I knew that right then and there, my life was just beginning and that's why I pursued a new concept in my life, which was being an advocate. And there's always an outlet for everything you deal with. People see me all the time and they always see me smiling. I'm smiling because the fact I know it could have been a lot worse. And I've taken what I have gone through and I try to help others because I know how they feel. I know what they're going through. I know they're thinking about whether they want to harm yourself or you feel like you're not going to be able to do anything you want to do in life conquering your dreams. Your dreams are still there. Nobody would've ever thought that a year or so later, I'm still wearing a badge, I'm still doing the job, and I'm still having the ability to go out here and understand and feel the pain that people are feeling every day. So never give up on your dreams for one, but never give up and think that there's nobody here who can listen. I tell recruits all the time, take my telephone number. If you're working late nights and you have problems sleeping, call me. I would rather you call me and I talk to keep you awake than I look at the news in the morning and I realize that you're no longer here because you fell asleep behind the wheel. Or if you dealt with a serious situation and you didn't want to talk to your sergeant, you didn't want to talk to your captain. Look, my telephone number is always available. I don't care if you work in the state of Virginia or if you work outside this state. I have given my number to so many first responders and they have taken me up on that. They have called me about it and talked to me about things. And there's things that, yeah, a lot of people wouldn't want to listen to, but as a first responder, we deal with it together. Now, if I hear something that I think is going to be detrimental to your department, then of course I have to say something and people understand that. But if we work as a team, we should be a team through and through. And the sad thing is that once you retire, you feel like you don't have that level of friendship, that level of trust, or that level that you have somebody that you can sit there and talk to and it shouldn't be like that. Once you retire, you should still have that ability to sit there and talk to somebody because you're now dealing with those flashbacks, that comfort level that you had when you woke up in the morning and you got up, you put the uniform on, and you took off and you went to work. Now you wake up and it's not that same routine. And a lot of people don't think about that. You got comfortable for 40 years of dealing with the same thing that you were dealing with and now that has all gone, that has all changed. You should still have that ability to talk to somebody. So I reach out to all of our first responder agencies and remind them that if you started something, we should be able to end it with each other. And that's where the teamwork comes from. If we are one strong, we should be one strong no matter what. You hear people all the time saying we bleed blue or we bleed red. Okay, that's fine. Let's keep it going. Let's bleed together. Let's help each other out. And in each other, we'll be able to conquer whatever you're feeling.

Rod Ammon: I love hearing you talk about the fact that the fire service seems to be evolving with the peer groups and some of the other things that are going on and allowing people to share. That's huge. And I'm also so grateful and I know a lot of other people are for your passion and care. Thanks from everybody to you for that that I can speak for. You brought it up already, this issue of post-retirement lives for emergency responders. You're working on some legislation. You want to talk about that?

Brad Hughes: Yes, sir. So I'm currently working to make it so that when first responders retire, that they still have the benefits of being able to speak to someone about issues they're dealing with. So it still goes on past the post-traumatic syndrome. And the big thing is people look at the insurance side of it. Well, if you're still receiving insurance after you retire, then you should still have the ability to reap the rewards of not wearing the helmet every day or not putting the duty belt on. You should still be able to have that ability to talk to somebody because you know yourself is when you close your eyes at night, you still see what you've responded to for 40 years. It may not be one slot at a time. It may be all jumbled up, but you still see that and you still feel that pain that a family felt when you had to tell them that their loved one is not coming home. So I'm working with legislation to work to see what we can do to help our first responders out here with some type of counseling, continued counseling and not having to worry about having to flip that bill for somebody to tell you it's okay. I mean, you've done your duties for 40 plus years, if not longer. Let's save our first responders so they can live their life comfortably and make sure that they are taken care of, not having to deal with talking to nobody when they should be able to talk to somebody.

Rod Ammon: Yeah, seems like the least we could do, especially with everything that responders give and many of them volunteers. It's pretty amazing. Thanks for that work and the message. Let's look at the other side of your work. Community outreach on distracted driving, especially with teenagers. High school students can be a tough crowd. How do you connect?

Brad Hughes: You are 110% correct when you say that high school students can be a tough crowd. I'll tell you, when I go to a school, you're not talking to 15, 20 students. You're talking to anywhere between four to 500 students at one time. And your goal is to have everybody pay attention. But there's times where you're going to have the onesies and twosies that are just not going to be there listening and they're going to be in their own feelings, but you got to overlook that. You can't sit there and ponder on the fact that they are being a little bit disruptive and you would hope that the teachers will take care of that. You remind everybody in there that they are leaders. I scan the room before I even start talking to make sure I have everybody's undivided attention. And you remind them that they're leaders. There are no followers in this room. And you want them to understand that you are here to help them to save their lives. You're not here as a police officer. Even when I go in there, I'd never tell them I work for the sheriff's department. I don't go in there in uniform. I don't want them to feel that that badge of authority is what I'm speaking from. I want them to know that I'm speaking from the heart and I'm speaking from the dialogue of what you see in front of you. You see a man who is 56 years old, who is in a wheelchair, who's using prosthetic legs, who has a family, and he's still having to go through life the way it is. But to remind them that you are the captain of your ship and you are the master of your fate. I know that your mom and dad will do anything humanly possible to make sure to give you everything you need and then some, that iPhone, the shoes you wear, the hair you want to get styled into, the clothes on your back and the roof over your head. But a split second from the decisions that you make when you drive that vehicle, all of that can be gone. All of it can be gone. And you can sit there and think that as a young driver, it's not going to happen to you. You're not going to get sued. You're wrong. You are totally wrong. The driver in my instance, he was sued, his wife was sued, and all three kids that lived in his house were sued because of the thing that I remind them about total household income. Every piece of money that comes into that home can be taken away. And I remind individuals, not just our students, but I remind individuals, can you live off of 20% of your check right now in today's society? You can't. My crash has been 14 years. They only receive 20% of their check. 80% of their check will go into an escrow account to repay the lump sum that was given to me. And when you say that to drivers, when you say that to students, you hear the silence in the room. You hear the fact that mom and dad will never ever be able to retire. The house that you have been living in for so long has now downsized, is gone. The car that you were driving back and forth to school with is gone. Everything is totally gone. Those people went in there. My lawyers went in there and took everything from the clothes on their back to the dishes in the sink to the paintings on the walls. Everything had a value. And when I tell this to these students, they take it wholeheartedly and they listen. I've never had to knock on wood, I've never had to go back to a school where students have lost their life because I can go out here nowadays and it's so ironic. I can be out here pumping gas and when I remind kids about those three seconds, I've been pumping gas somewhere and a student or a young person has walked past me and they'll go three seconds and just yell it. And that lets me know they were listening. Or a student who was there and they remind me, sir, you came and spoke at my school seven years ago and I remember what you said verbatim. Or a parent who comes up to me and tells me, thank you for what you do when you talk to my student or when I see you on TV. I know that you're given the fight for everybody, not just yourself. That's my goal. My goal is to make sure everybody understands. Our compassion is to bring that forward, especially with our young people because our young people are the future. And unfortunately they get what's called wild and out and think that they can just go out here and do whatever they want to do and not reap the consequences. But you look at the studies right now and most of the crashes that are occurring are for individuals under the age of 21. They're not even having the opportunity to see their life. And then you remind these drivers that are in school about the individuals who have lost their lives prior to our conversation. You bring up old study because they remember those individuals and they sit there and shake their head like, "Yeah, I remember them," or "I was there when it happened." It's a sore subject, but it's a subject that has to be told. Then when you tell them about when you mourn an individual in your school, you'll wear that T-shirt with their picture on it. You'll put those cups in the fence line with their names on it. But for how long will that stay up? How long will you remember that individual? You won't. And how a parent has to go to a graveside and see their child, that's the only way they can see their child. That's the only way they can talk to their child. Or when first responders knock at the door and you tell a mom that your son, your daughter is not coming home tonight because they lost their life in a motor vehicle crash and you see your mom fall to the floor screaming, "No, not my child. There's no way. I just talk to them on the phone." And a father who is so mad, they take a swing at you, but it's not because they're trying to hurt you, it's because they're so mad. I can feel that pain. I can relate to that pain, but I want those kids to hear it. And I have the opportunity sometimes to talk to parents and students at the same time. And you see the parents beside them shaking their head like, "He's exactly right." Or you see the parents that are in there with tears in their eyes because they don't want to see or feel that pain that another parent is feeling. That is what I tell students about. This is real life. This is a real scenario. The dramatizations that we may do in the parking lot, they're not real, but the pain is real. Not to fall to that type of incident. Your chance to live is now. Be that leader and not that follower and they will come home alive. That's what I tell them each and every time.

Rod Ammon: I love the uniqueness and strength of your message. The fact that you start out with leadership I think is wonderful because I think a lot of teens don't think of themselves that way, but they want to. I'm not sure what the tie is, but it worked for me when you were talking about it. I hope one of the things that listeners can take out of this is when they have to go do presentations, that they come back to this podcast or they go to places where you've put up your resources and they take a few minutes to look back and listen to your message because I got to tell you, I've heard a lot of them. I find your presentation to be powerful. And the fact that you've also followed up and had people come to you over all those years has to be rewarding and it also means that your time is well spent. Thanks for that. Do you want to talk a little bit about other things that you do in these presentations to students, specific kinds of things that might be suggestions for other responders who are going out to do the same thing?

Brad Hughes: The big thing is making sure we have patience when we talk to any type of organization. Whether we're talking to students or we're talking to adults, we have to have patience. And I get the opportunity to talk to students before they have committed an incident. And now I talk to drivers and adolescents after they've committed an incident. So two programs, one through VCU, which is our Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital, they have a program that's called Gracie and then they also have another program that's called Project Impact. And it deals with preventing violent crimes, preventing violent incidents from happening. And the other thing is when I deal with DRIVE SMART Virginia and YOVASO, that's when we talk to students. But now I'm dealing with one with Henrico County Fire, a fire department who deals with drivers who have been charged with reckless driving. And we sit there and we discuss my first question to everybody I ask, I don't care how big the room is, I want to know who you are and what you were charged with. And then I've got one, the highest right now was 120 in a 45. And the first question I asked was, where were you going? Not why were you doing this, but where were you going? And the individual was late for work. So I asked him after that, I said, "Well, did you make it on time?" And he said, "No." And I said, "I'm assuming by the tone in your voice and the reason why you're here, you were incarcerated after that." And he goes, "Yes." I said, "See, the big difference between all of this is you can do that speed and I can do the speed limit, and we can get to the same destination at the same time." The reason for that is you're concentrating on zigzagging and looking for law enforcement. So you have to speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, while I'm staying the same pace. It's just like going a straight line instead of having the curves. We can both get to the same destination at the same time. So that's why I say you scan your audience. You see where the audience coming from. Each locality is different for here. If I know I'm in a rural area, then I have to talk in a rural demographic, rural design, because you have to tell them bullets have no names, but trees do. Every time you see a tree or a ditch and it's got a cross in it should make you wonder why. Why is that person's name on that cross? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about what would happen if your name was on that cross? So you have to get the feel of the room and be able to... Therefore, once you get that feel of the room, you'll be able to talk freely with them and make sure they understand exactly what you're talking about. Don't go too deep into your whole thesis. Talk about what is necessary to be talked about. And they can pick from that what they grasp from. Because I've seen a lot of speakers where they start talking and they go into what's called a tangent and they start drifting off into something. Well, for myself, because of my impact, I have short-term memory loss. So because of the way my neck was whipped, there are times when I can't remember what I just started and why I can't remember where I ended. So there's times where I go off on the tangent, but I try to bring it back once I realize I've gone to a tangent and circle around it and make sure you totally understand what I was talking about. So it's basically, like I said, and I repeat it again, knowing your crowd, knowing how they feel and understanding what's going on in their mind. And I will tell you this, that with the two organizations that I deal with, with Henrico Fire and Gracie through VCU, when I sit there and I talk to those individuals and I ask them about who they are and why are they here and what could we have done differently to make it so that you weren't here? They feel that sense of us connecting because you bring it back to the home life. I'm sure some of you in here have husbands, wives, kids, and you would rather be spending that Saturday with them than that Saturday with me. Again, you are the captain of your ship and you are the master of your fate.

Rod Ammon: What a great way that you personalize and really, I think, generate real interaction with these people. And again, I just hope that anybody who's listening to this now, not because I just want more people to hear the podcast, but I really hope that they take your words and they share this recording with others because I think it's that meaningful. We hear a lot of messages, but I'm really touched by the way that you present and I'm grateful for it. Do you have any other advice that you want to share with emergency responders who communicate public safety messages?

Brad Hughes: Community engagement is the biggest thing that can make a community whole. I do a lot of community engagements. I do a lot of advocacy where I do a bowling tournament every year and it's dedicated to first responders. And we give back for scholarships and we also do if a first responder is in need of some type of help, like last year we had a first responder who was diagnosed with ALS. And unfortunately he has, I'm sorry, fortunately he has five kids and unfortunately he's not able to help with financially taking care of them. So a fundraiser was done and with my organization, which is called Faces of Heroes, and that's also my Instagram name, we were able to make a donation towards his family for back to school. But the reason behind that name, Faces of Heroes, is because you are the first and last face anybody could ever see, whether it's a good incident or a bad incident. You're a hero in my eyes because the fact that you take the time to learn a trade that a lot of people do not want to acquire, and you do it every single day regardless of what's going on in your life, you still perform that duty and you give it 110%. Whether it's a good call or a bad call, you still give it 110%. And for that, I say thank you to everybody in this audience, everybody who performs this duty, from our police officers, to our firefighters, to our tow truck drivers, highway safety people, highway workers, and frontline individuals along with our security officers. They all put that badge on. They all put that helmet on to do a job to make sure that our roads are done smoothly, that we have first responders who are there to help us when we need them. And that in the glimpse of night when it is dark out there and you see those amber lights, you see that tow truck coming behind you, you know that it's help coming there for you. So never give up hope on those that are out here doing the job. Never downplay somebody for the job they do. Help them succeed in life. So always, always, always remember, and this is what I tell a lot of people, that you are the one that can lead any troop to battle, but you are also the one that can lead us all back home. So I want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to your audience and to give them any kind of insight humanly possible from my eyes. And like I said earlier, you can follow me on Faces of Heroes on Instagram. I have a website which is at www.facesofheroes.net, or you can follow me on Facebook at Brad Hughes. I am always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. DM me, send me a message. If it wakes me up, it wakes me up. But guess what? It's waking me up for a reason. That's because somebody is trying to reach out to me that needs some help and I'm here to help you.

Rod Ammon: So grateful for your time. Thank you, Deputy Hughes, for sharing your experience in the depth you did and not just the struck by, but advocating and motivating people to change their driving behavior. So you're working it from both sides. And just from all the people at the CVVFA and from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute and Responder Safety, I know they're all so grateful for what you do. So thanks again.

Brad Hughes: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Rod Ammon: Now for news from respondersafety.com. The Responder Safety Learning Network has been working hard to develop new modules that will be released later in 2026. Our upcoming modules are on after-action review for roadway incident responses, use of emergency crossovers, and traffic incident management for electric vehicle fires. More modules will follow in 2027. Also, the Responder Safety Learning Network has a new type of training experience to viewing this year, interactive case stories. They'll take you inside real roadway incident responses that have critical safety and operations lessons learned. These stories have an engrossing narrative writing style that recounts the incident as it happened, illustrated with immersive video, audio, 3D animation, and other media so you can see and hear what happened directly from the emergency responders who were involved. Every case story has multiple lessons learned that will stick with you and we hope change the way you respond to roadway incidents. Look for the first interactive case story to go live on rsln.org this summer. That's all for this episode of the ResponderSafety.com podcast. Remember, if you know of an incident where an emergency vehicle or a responder was struck while operating at a roadway incident, please report it at reportstruckby.com. We're collecting these reports to better understand how struck by incidents occur so we can determine what training, public education, and safety messaging is needed to reduce struck by incidents. Anyone can file a report. You can report anonymously. Reports from all response groups are accepted. You can connect with us on social media for timely updates on news and emergency response and respondersafety.com activities. Like and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/roadwaysafety, on Instagram at instagram.com/respondersafety, and on X at x.com/respondersafety. This podcast, ResponderSafety.com and the Responder Safety Learning Network are made possible by funding from a fire prevention and safety grant from the assistance of Firefighters Grant program administered by FEMA and the US Department of Homeland Security. We appreciate your support and remember to share these podcasts with your colleagues to spread the word about safety practices at roadway incident scenes. Thanks for joining us today on the podcast. Stay safe everybody. We'll see you next time. For ResponderSafety.com, I'm Rod Ammon.

How 3 seconds on Midlothian Turnpike forever changed his life: ‘Like starting all over again as a child’. 6News WTVR Richmond (VA).

Honoring Special Deputy Brad Hughes for Turning Tragedy into Purpose. Virginia Sheriff’s Association.

2025 Shining Knight Gala Deputy Brad Hughes Presentation. VCU Health

Faces of Heroes on Instagram

Facebook at Brad Hughes

Brad Hughes Website

reportstruckby.com