Halloween should be a fun time for children and adults alike. However, there is potential for danger.
On average, children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car on Halloween than on any other day of the year. We wanted to provide some reminders about Halloween safety and pass along some tips for making the most out a festive holiday.
The American Academy of Pediatrics provides a good resource for tips on keeping your family safe on Halloween. To highlight a few:
- Plan costumes that are bright and reflective. Make sure that shoes fit well and that costumes are short enough to prevent tripping, entanglement or contact with flame.
- Small children should never carve pumpkins. Children can draw a face with markers. Then parents can do the cutting.
- To keep homes safe for visiting trick-or-treaters, parents should remove from the porch and front yard anything a child could trip over such as garden hoses, toys, bikes and lawn decorations.
- A parent or responsible adult should always accompany young children on their neighborhood rounds.
- Only go to homes with a porch light on and never enter a home or car for a treat.
- Because pedestrian injuries are the most common injuries to children on Halloween, remind Trick-or-Treaters:
- Only cross the street as a group in established crosswalks (as recognized by local custom). Never cross between parked cars or out driveways.
- Don’t assume the right of way. Motorists may have trouble seeing Trick-or-Treaters. Just because one car stops, doesn’t mean others will!
- Wait until children are home to sort and check treats. Though tampering is rare, a responsible adult should closely examine all treats and throw away any spoiled, unwrapped or suspicious items.
There are a number of safety resources on poison control, safe driving, proper costumes and pet safety. Check out the Halloween safety information from these helpful sites:
Batson Nolan offers more safety tips during colder weather in this article. If you need an experienced attorney, contact Batson Nolan. With hundreds of years of combined legal experience at Batson Nolan PLC, we are committed to our clients.
