- Wear a bright costume: Visibility is the name of the trick-or-treating safety game each Halloween. The more visible a child is while going around the neighborhood for candy, the safer they will be. Particularly, increased visibility helps children stay safe around drivers in the street. Your child should have a relatively bright costume or, at least, accents to the costume that increase its overall brightness. For example, neon-colored candy buckets are an easy way to increase visibility without changing your kid’s costume.
- Bring a flashlight: All trick-or-treaters should have a flashlight in their pockets or candy buckets. You never know when you will turn down a street for another candy haul, only to find that it is poorly lit, so flashlights can be a big help. Don’t forget to check that all flashlights are working properly and have charged batteries before starting your trick-or-treat circuit.
- Go with a group: Children of all ages should go in groups when trick-or-treating. Teenagers who are familiar with the neighborhood can often go in groups without an adult but use your best judgment before sending them off to trick-or-treat. On the other hand, young children should only trick-or-treat with at least one adult chaperone. If a local school, church, or shopping mall is hosting a trick-or-treating event for children, then that might be the safest place to bring the little guys and ghouls.
- Inspect all candy: When your child’s trick-or-treating fun concludes for the night, don’t just start ripping open candy and feasting, even though that probably sounds great. Sit down with your child to do a candy haul inspection. The risks of someone tampering with candy are microscopic but the risk of your child getting candy with an allergen is much higher. If your child has a peanut allergy, for example, you need to inspect all candy for peanuts or a warning that it was manufactured in a factory that contains nuts. Also, look for any candy that has been accidentally opened while jostling around your kid’s candy bucket.
Halloween safety tips for driving:
- Use your headlights: If you are driving anywhere on Halloween night, then you should have your headlights on. Whether it is 3 PM or 8 PM, turn on your headlights. You need to increase your car’s visibility to trick-or-treaters who might enter into the street if they don’t notice your approaching car, and headlights do the trick.
- Slow down: When traveling through a residential area, suburb, or anywhere with nearby trick-or-treaters, you should slow down a bit. The slower you are driving, the more time you will give yourself to come to a safe stop in case a trick-or-treater tries to cross the street unexpectedly. If the speed limit is 25 mph in residential areas in your state or county, then plan on driving at 15 or 20 mph, just to be safe and to prevent pedestrian accidents.
- Stay sober: Drunk drivers take to the streets in higher numbers on any major holiday night, including Halloween. As such, the risk of getting into a car accident on Halloween will be higher than a typical night. To help prevent drunk driving accidents, the best thing that you can do is to stay completely sober if you drive at all that night. If you are going to drink, then designate a sober driver ahead of time.
Triumph Law, P.C. wishes you and your family a spookily safe Halloween! If you need any help after a Halloween accident in Sacramento, then contact us to arrange a free consultation with our injury attorneys.
