Tips to Avoid Accidents on Halloween
While Halloween was traditionally celebrated with a harvest known as the Celtic festival of Samhain to welcome the end of the summer, many Americans now celebrate Halloween on the 31st of October with trick or treating and costume parties. While Halloween can be a fun time a year most children enjoy, this is also a day where safety is crucial. Many assume danger occurs in things like harmfully tampered-with candies when, one of the biggest threats comes from traffic and automobiles. There are generally more children and pedestrians out on the roads and sidewalks on Halloween night, causing the likelihood of injury by car being twice as likely. Our personal injury team would like to share some tips to keep our loved ones, adults and children, safe on Halloween.
- Costumes with masks – encourage your child to wear their mask as they are approaching a door to tick-or-treat but remove the mask in between transition to the next house. This will allow for greater visibility of their surroundings, including traffic and watching where they walk, as to avoid tripping and falling. Your child’s costume should not prevent them from seeing (or hearing) clearly.
- Flashlights/reflectors – be sure children are carrying a flashlight with them. Additionally, place reflective tape or have them wear glowsticks. This allows drivers to have a better visual of the trick-or-treaters on the streets.
- Drivers should be on high alert – if you are out driving on Halloween night, be sure cell phones are away, you are driving within the speed limit and paying special attention to your surroundings. Do not assume that children can see your vehicle and that they are paying attention to the roads. If you happen to be behind a vehicle with several children being dropped off to a trick-or-treating location, be sure to wait patiently for children to exit the vehicle, do not attempt to go around.
- No drinking and driving – if partaking in social activities involving alcohol, be sure you have a safe mode of transportation home and strongly encourage members of your group to do the same.
There are also many other common Halloween accidents such as trip and falls, burn injuries, pumpkin carving injuries, drunk driving accidents, etc. Although street safety is the major concern for children, adults should also be very cautious while walking with their children while trick-or-treating. Behind pumpkin carving, trip and falls are the second most prevalent injury for adults on Halloween. Of course, you can trip and fall anywhere, but oftentimes, it is the unfamiliarity of someone’s front steps or yard that causes you to injure yourself. Therefore, along with your child’s costume, make sure your costume allows for you to see properly as well.
If you or a friend or family member is dealing with an accident or injury on Halloween or any day or night of the year, please contact our personal injury team to help you receive guidance, information and compensation you deserve. Call us today for a free consultation. You pay nothing up front and no attorney fees whatsoever unless we recover damages for you.
By: Meg Ament
