THE Mitchell Proactive Policing Unit invites young drivers and their families to attend the Cool Heads Young Driver program, aiming to remove the effects caused by fatal and serious injury collisions on roads.
Cool Heads, a Victoria Police initiative, highlights the real life consequences of distractions and risk taking when driving, and aims to improve the attitudes of the young drivers who are at the highest risk of being killed or seriously injured when driving.
It is the first time the Mitchell Shire police service area will host a Cool Heads evening, with the program beginning in 2008 and servicing the Shepparton police service area.
Since the program’s inception, nearly 8000 young drivers have attended the program and as of 2019, a Greater Shepparton 16 to 25-year-old driver is 72 per cent less likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads compared to back in 2008.
Wallan Senior Constable Ryan Coleman expressed the importance of hosting the event and said there were a number of guest speakers attending the night.
“It was important for us as a community to run the event as it is the first one for the Mitchell area and during COVID, a lot of educational programs have been cancelled, so this was another reason to have the program run,” he said.
“Some of our court attendees from driving offences also are court mandated to attend a driving education program and Cool Heads allows this.
“We have guest speakers from our Major Collision Investigation Unit, they speak about road trauma and the impacts it can have and we have a victim’s mother speak about her life and how it impacted her life, how it changed her, her family and those around her.”
Cool Heads will be at Wallan Secondary College from 7pm to 9.30pm.
While the Cool Heads program is a free event, tickets must be reserved by families wishing to attend, as the event is capped and follows COVID-19 guidelines.
To reserve your tickets, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/cool-heads-young-driver-program-wallan-tickets-243329022657.
