In today's episode, we're delighted to welcome on James Luckhurst from Blue Lights Aware. Welcome, James.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, James. Nice to see you here.

Well, thank you very much for having me. It's a great pleasure.

We invited you on today to talk about Blue Light Aware because back in December you were sharing some daily videos on your social media, helping drivers understand a bit more about what they should do when there's emergency service vehicles behind them or in the vicinity while they're driving. And it just struck me that This is something that people do get really nervous and anxious about, about what to do, where are the sirens coming from, where are the lights coming from, what do I do? So we thought you'd be a great guest to come on and tell us a bit more about Blue Light Aware, um, what your aim is.

course, I'm very happy to do that. And I'll tell you a little bit about Blue Light Away's history. It was in 2009. I was with a colleague at a conference which was called the National Blue Light Users Conference. That was for training staff from fire brigades and police and ambulance. They were the ones responsible for Trying to get consistent standards in emergency response driving, but of course, if you look at the whole area of blue light driving, you've got the components that they can control because they can, issue the certificates and check the standards of the drivers who are working for them, whether they're in the fire, the police, the ambulance or any, any other of the services that might be entitled to use blue lights. But the bit that they can't control is, is us and, and the way we react. But with careful understanding a bit of give and take and an appreciation, I suppose, of the other person's needs. It makes it so much easier. In 2009, there was a call saying, Oh, wouldn't it be great if we could kind of make some kind of video and tell people more. So I foolishly put my hand up and said, I'll find the money. I'll make the video. If you guys will help us do the filming. And we got support straight away from police and fire in Sussex ambulance in Cheshire. And also police, fire and ambulance in the southwest in Plymouth, Cornwall and Devon. And so we were able to create a quite a decent five, six minute video covering the main areas in that video. And the most important thing about it was that we ensured that all the driving school teams were playing it to their emergency response drivers as well. So you and I could watch it and think, okay, that's what I do. When there's a double white line, or that's what I do at traffic lights and and by showing it and making sure that the, the emergency service drivers were seeing what we were being asked to do, there was a sense of of better collaboration. And I think there was research done 4 or 5 years ago that suggested that there were better degrees of understanding and more willingness to assist from members of the public. Simply because they understood what they were being asked to do.

I'm just sitting here listening and thinking, so actually to add into that, we could really do with driving instructors, making sure that that video is played to all of their students as well. So either through their social media or on a lesson so that we're sort of adding it in so that all new drivers. Get to see this as well,

Well, I think that, we've had terrific support from driving instructors and they've been really, you know, the ones we've talked to are dedicated, committed and really want their students to be safe throughout a lifetime of driving. The passion that they've shown is just great. You know, it really inspires you, wants you to, makes you want to, to help. So, you know, thank you to driving instructors. What I would say, of course, is that 2009 was quite a long time ago. And there has been a major overhaul of Blue Light Aware. I think by, by the time we did the overhaul in 2019. The YouTube main video had been seen over a million times, but the number of downloads by the different services to show at open days or on training courses or show to companies was massive. So, you know, we really think that there was a really good, big audience that would have benefited from that. But you have to keep it. You know, current and fit for modern day purpose. There's lots of different vehicles on the roads now. There might have been a few little rule changes. So in about 2020, we, we, we did a refresh and the way people kind of use videos and online. Changed a lot during that time as well. You know, we all like things much quicker. Don't we might just one little 15 seconds. We don't want to sit down for five minutes and watch something. So we separated it out. And if you think of all the, the areas where it can confuse you, if there's an emergency vehicle coming, like I've mentioned, traffic lights. What about on a smart motorway where there might not be a hard shoulder? You know, a rural road where there's a double white line. You know, why, why is an emergency service vehicle suddenly, why is it turned its siren off and pulling back? Um, roundabouts and, and just little tips like, you know, actually, if you've just let one, one emergency vehicle through. Guess what? There might be more than one coming because it's likely that they're going to, you know, there might be one more than one required at an incident. So lots of just general practical tips, but all in little short digestible chunks that just one topic at a time. And in fact, we've just drawn up a short list of four or five others that we'll be launching later this year. So we're adding to the, to the portfolio, but yeah, well, so it's started up with one. Good long video, but now it's, it's chopped up a little bit. And, uh, yeah, I think we're really pleased with how it is received and hopefully it will be helpful to someone who is a little wary, a little nervous, doesn't want to do the wrong thing, wants to help, but needs to know how to help.