Every Halloween, more than 40 million American children venture out into the night for trick-or-treating. While parents often fear the classic “boogeyman” dangers like hidden razor blades or lurking predators, the reality is that the most significant threat on Halloween is car accidents. In fact, more kids are injured and killed in car accidents on Halloween than from any other danger and children are over twice as likely to be killed by a car while walking on Halloween night compared to any other time of the year (Safe Kids USA). Most of these Halloween pedestrian accidents happen between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., particularly during the sunset hours when reduced visibility makes drivers less aware.
Preventing Halloween Pedestrian vs Car Accidents
Dr. Leticia Manning Ryan, an expert in pediatric emergency medicine, notes that the rise in pedestrian injuries on Halloween isn’t solely due to drivers’ negligence. Children often wear masks that limit their vision or costumes that can easily trip them. Additionally, excitement can lead kids to dash across streets unexpectedly, forcing drivers to make sudden maneuvers, sometimes resulting in collisions with other vehicles.
The best way to prevent Halloween pedestrian vs car accidents is for both drivers and pedestrians to be extra aware. Young children should be accompanied by a sober adult who makes sure their child is watching out for cars, using crosswalks appropriately, and never dashing out into the road from behind parked vehicles. Parents should remind their older children to be cautious of cars and to follow this basic safety protocol before they head out. In addition, kids must be able to see out of their masks and should not wear costumes that they could trip on. Drivers should slow down and commit 100% of their attention to the road, keeping an eye out for kids darting in between cars or running across the street outside of a crosswalk.
If your child is (or was) injured in a Halloween pedestrian accident, seek the help of an experienced local Mount Vernon pedestrian accident lawyer. The attorney can review the circumstances around the accident and help you fight for a fair settlement – even if the driver wasn’t 100% at fault.
Halloween Car Accidents Data
According to the NHTSA, drunk driving accounts for almost half of traffic fatalities on Halloween. Statistics from 2017-2021 reveal the grim reality, with 159 people losing their lives in drunk-driving accidents on Halloween nights in those years (trafficsafetymarketing.gov).
A 2015 report by Alcohol Monitoring Systems showed that when Halloween falls on a Saturday, drinking violations occur at a rate 4.5 times higher compared to the average increase when Halloween falls on any other day of the week. This can likely be attributed to adult parties on a Saturday night that serve alcohol.
Other Halloween Child Safety Issues
Let’s keep Halloween fun by preventing avoidable child accidents! Apart from car accidents, parents must be vigilant about other Halloween hazards, including:
- Injuries from breaking glow sticks,
- Adverse reactions to face paint,
- Burns from decorations,
- Trip and fall accidents,
- and choking incidents related to candy.
Contact a pedestrian injury lawyer today!
An accident lawyer can help you recover a full and fair settlement for the injuries you sustained as a pedestrian in an accident caused by the negligence of another with no up-front costs to you. We know the sneaky strategies used by insurance companies to get injured people to agree to settlements far below what they are worth. Our clients typically end up with a settlement or jury award that is five to ten times larger than they could have negotiated on their own. We have been representing injured people injured in Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County since 1979. Contact the experienced and hard-working pedestrian injury lawyers at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Mount Vernon, WA today for a FREE consultation!
