As parents, we are likely vigilant in checking our children’s Halloween candy to make sure they don’t eat anything unwrapped or homemade from strangers. We probably remember our parents doing the same after a night of trick-or-treating fun.
As parents, we are likely vigilant in checking our children’s Halloween candy to make sure they don’t eat anything unwrapped or homemade from strangers. We probably remember our parents doing the same after a night of trick-or-treating fun.
But consumption of poisoned or unsafe candy shouldn’t be at the top of our list of concerns.
Halloween is one of the top three days for pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates children are four times more likely to be struck by a vehicle on Halloween than any other day of the year.
With Halloween falling on a Friday this year, we imagine children will be out in droves and likely a little later than usual without a school-night bedtime for parents to impose.
Halloween is the one night of the year when we tell our children, “It’s OK to go knock on that stranger’s door.” Before they go out, we need to remind them more than just “say thank you.”
Remind your kids to:
• Stay on the sidewalks and cross only at corners.
• Look, listen and be aware of cars.
• Stick to familiar areas that are well lit and trick-or-treat in groups.
• Only go to houses with porch lights on, and never enter anyone’s house.
Halloween also has evolved into a more adult holiday, and has become a major drinking occasion, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.
In 2011, 38 percent of fatalities on Halloween night occurred in a crash involving a driver or a motorcyclist with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, and 11 percent of those fatalities involved a pedestrian. From 2007-11, 23 percent of pedestrian deaths on Halloween involved a drunken driver.
As little ghosts and goblins, ninja turtles and Elsas parade around our neighborhoods tonight, let us be extra aware.
Let us obey all traffic laws.
Let us follow what always is the best advice: Don’t drink and drive.
Let us remember Halloween — first and foremost — is a holiday for children, a night of too much sugar and staying up past bedtime that should be a fond memory when they are grown.
Let us do our best to ensure that’s what Halloween 2014 is for all of us.
— Stephens Media