Halloween can be dangerous for children

For many children, Halloween is the best holiday of the year. I mean, free candy? ’Nuff said. But did you know that Halloween is a dangerous day for kids, too. According to a report on NorthJersey.com, Halloween is the worst day of the year for car crashes involving children. The report highlights data from a National Highway Traffic Institute study that found that the average Halloween death rate for children is 5.5; the rest of the year it’s at 2.6. Drivers under 26 account for around a third of all fatal crashes involving children. There is good news, however, the overall number of pedestrian deaths involving children has been trending downward even as the total number of pedestrian deaths has been rising.

According to Rutgers, Halloween puts four times the number of children on the road as normal and it does so at dusk, when it is hardest to see them. Some of the things that safety experts stress are common sense, like not crossing in the middle of the street, wearing reflective clothing, and carrying flashlights.

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