CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- The organization Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety honored Brad Hughes this past weekend, thanking him for his efforts to spread awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.
For the past decade, Hughes, of Chesterfield County, has shared the story of his life-changing crash that cost him his legs.
It was a cold and icy day March 17 day back in 2014. Hughes was working as a special police officer and had helped a Chesterfield officer respond to a disabled vehicle. After that call wrapped and Hughes drove east on Midlothian Turnpike, he heard another call for a wreck.
“Turned out to be a 17-car crash," said Hughes, who turned around and drove back to find the officer was hit as well. Hughes pulled over his vehicle to begin helping out. Seconds later, his life changed. A truck slammed into the crashed vehicles and into Hughes.
"My legs were sitting in the middle of Midlothian Turnpike," Hughes said.
"I told [the doctor], I don't care about my leg. The only thing I care about is my 16 year old daughter and coming home to her," Hughes said.
Hughes eventually came home and it was his daughter who helped him down the path he's now on, when she shared her family's story in a DRIVE SMART Virginia scholarship contest.
"Once I read what she had put together, it was that eye opening piece that made me think that I need to go forward and do something with this," Hughes said.
From there, Hughes partnered with DRIVE SMART, a safe driving advocacy group, and began publicly sharing his story at their events as well as with YOVASO and VCU Health's Project Impact
"It was very hard. I will say that none of these are easy. Because I have to relive this incident over and over and over again," he said.
Among the main points he tries to drive home is something his daughter wrote about — just how quickly things can change.
"In three seconds, you can change somebody's life. And in three seconds, you can change your own life," he said.
DRIVE SMART Virginia Executive Director Kristin Pettway said you can hear a pin drop when Hughes speaks.
"I do believe that he has saved lives with the story that he's told," she said. "He connects with [teens] on a level that is just rare. He speaks to them in a way that they can comprehend how much he cares for them."
Hughes' work has been recognized several times, including this past weekend, when he received the Shining Star Award at the annual banquet for YOVASO.
"We felt that he was very deserving of the award just for all that he has done," YOVASO Program Development Coordinator Casey Taylor said. "There's several people that we work with that choose every day, you know, to get up and to fight, and to try to help people, especially young teens, to make good choices on the roads."
Hughes said he was grateful for the awards and recognition but added the greatest gratification comes from meeting people years later who remember his message.
"It makes me feel wonderful inside and knows that I'm a part of that," Hughes said. "Knowing that I made that one difference in a school or with an individual, or carrying on a conversation with an individual and they remember three seconds. That's the reward that lasts forever."
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