Changing gears: Cool Heads organiser Glenn Gibson stepping away

The News caught up with him in November, after the final session he organised, to talk about what’s next for him, and what’s next for the program that held his passion for close to a decade.

When Glenn Gibson walks over to the Welsford St Cafe from the Shepparton Police Station next door, he looks casual and cheerful.

Maybe it’s because he just pulled off another successful Cool Heads session at Riverlinks WestSide the night before.

“We had over 200, so pretty happy with that,” he says.

It didn’t sell out, but after two years of cancellations, postponements and limited capacities, it was the largest crowd of young drivers in attendance in a while.

Created to educate 16- to 25-year-olds about what car accidents are actually like, Cool Heads invites those that have witnessed or experienced road trauma to speak at the events.

What follows is an eye-opening, and sometimes confronting, peek into what happens in the aftermath of many car accidents.

Since 2008, more than 7000 young drivers have attended a Cool Heads session.

Cool Heads’ success is visible in data from the Transport Accident Commission.

In 2008, 28 per cent of all people that ended up in hospital after a serious road accident in Greater Shepparton were people aged between 18 and 25.

This year, that figure is down to just under 17 per cent.

Glenn says Shepparton is now below the state average in terms of young people involved in serious car accidents.

“Shepparton was considered one of the hotspots for our young drivers in terms of serious injury,” he says.

“Now, we’re below the state average, so we’re really proud of that.”

Glenn tells me that 16- to 25-year-olds are 71 per cent less likely to be killed or seriously injured on Shepparton and Goulburn Valley roads.

“That’s a great positive but I’d much rather be saying that we had zero (deaths),” he says.

It’s been so successful, the program has been expanded to areas outside the Goulburn Valley.

“We just picked up Mitchell, Benalla, and Wangaratta and Wodonga have had it in the past,” Glenn says.

“But there are a number of similar things that are great as well.”

If you ask Shepparton Search and Rescue vice-president Michael D’Elia, Cool Heads’ success is largely due to Glenn himself.

“Glenn has been absolutely amazing for this program,” he says.

“He really encourages people to speak from the heart, because that’s the ethos of the program.”

If you ask Glenn, he’ll insist he plays a small part.

He says the success of Cool Heads comes from the community support.

“While it’s a police-led program, it’s really community-driven,” he says.

“We’ve got a lot of people who’ve been involved from the start like Shepparton Search and Rescue, the local ambulance, the hospital,” Glenn says, listing the supporters.

Perhaps most important are the road trauma victims that share their stories to packed auditoriums.

“It just takes so much courage,” Glenn says, and you can hear the awe in his voice.

Michael agrees the program is making an impact on the region’s young people.

His kids and their friends attended Cool Heads sessions when it was time to sit the test for their driver’s licences and he said there was a visible change in their attitude to driving.

“I could see the change in their behaviour and the change in conversations around driving cars and the things they were getting up to immediately after attending the program,” he says.

“To me, that says that made those kids think about their safety, and the safety of their friends.”

There is no doubt that with community support, Cool Heads will continue to warn drivers about the risks that come with driving.

As for Glenn himself, he’s taking some well-earned time off, before retiring later in 2022.

“It’s time to hand the mantle over to someone new and younger,” he says.

Cool Heads is scheduled to return in the new year.