She's a winner! Award-winning Lauren Doherty who uses her own traumatic experiences to teach Harrogate children the importance of road safety.
Harrogate's Lauren Doherty is an inspirational person - and now the amazing work she does after a horrific road accident has been recognised with a top award.
Wheelchair-bound Lauren, who, despite her permanent disabilites, now visits Harrogate schools in person to promote road safety, has won the Volunteer of the Year 2019 accolade in the Yorkshire Choice Awards.
The award was purely because of a public vote reflecting the huge success of this ex-Harrogate High School student's amazingly honest Road Safety Talks which began in 2016.
Last month saw Lauren, who lives in Knaresborough, deliver her message to the 3000th child/young adult in a series of visits she describes as "using personal experience of a road traffic accident to educate children and adults about road safety and disabilities".
The citation from the organisers describes how, in 2008, on a night out with friends when she was 19, Lauren was distracted and crossed the road without looking.
She was hit by a van and as a result is still totally paralysed.
After the horrific accident in which she broke her spine in two places, as well as her pelvis, Lauren went on to spent 16 months in different hospitals in Harrogate, Leeds and Sheffield.
Despite still being paralysed and in a wheelchair over the last 10 years she has rebuilt her life.
Lauren has now volunteers to speak in person about her unfortunate accident.
She hopes that by sharing her story and the reality of what your life can be like, it will make children think carefully about crossing a road safely.