If you are going to be out driving on Halloween this year in Louisville or anywhere else in Kentucky, you need to do your part as a driver to make sure children and other pedestrians stay safe.
Although Halloween should be a time for fun trick-or-treating and holiday events, it becomes a time of tragedy for many families every year as children are struck by cars and injured or killed. If drivers do better to prevent pedestrian accidents by following basic safety rules, there will be fewer young lives shattered during the Halloween holiday this year.
Safety Tips for Preventing Louisville Halloween Car Accidents
So, what can drivers do to try to save young lives and avoid becoming legally liable for Halloween pedestrian crashes and other motor vehicle accidents? Here are a few key safety guidelines to follow:
- Exercise extra caution whenever you drive through areas where kids are likely to trick-or-treat. When responding to questions about Halloween, 89 percent of parents said their kids would be participating in the holiday and 73 percent said their kids would be trick-or-treating. Drivers should know there are going to be so many more kids out on Halloween night.
- Be aware of the highest risk times. Republican Herald reports the hours between 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM have the highest pedestrian death rate on Halloween night. Be extra cautious when out during this time. Safe Kids recommends putting on headlights a little earlier so you can better see the kids who go out early to trick-or-treat. The early kids tend to be the youngest, and most difficult to see.
- Never drink and drive. While impaired driving is never OK, it is even more risky on Halloween with so many kids out. Patch.com says 23 percent of the deadly pedestrian crashes over Halloween night involve drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding the .08 legal limit. Over the whole of Halloween weekend, 44 percent of national fatal motor vehicle accidents are caused by drivers who are breaking drunk driving laws.
- Avoid any type of distractions. Motorists are not able to effectively multi-task, even when using hands-free phones. You should not use any personal electronics in the car on Halloween and should instead stay 100 percent focused on the road so you can spot children immediately and make sure you stop in time to avoid striking them.
- Be aware of kids in the middle of the road. Of the pedestrian accidents on Halloween, more than 70 percent happen in the middle of the road and not at corners, crosswalks, or intersections. Many happen when kids unexpectedly run out into the street in the path of an oncoming car that cannot stop.
- Go slowly. You should never exceed the speed limit and should consider going even slower through residential neighborhoods. Going slower means you take less time to stop, and if you hit a child the crash is less likely to be fatal.
Indiana University warns drivers and parents about the extensive risks of Halloween car accidents. During Halloween, double the number of children die in pedestrian collisions compared with any other day of the year. Hopefully, drivers will do better this year to be careful, and the death rate will not be so high.