Swerving Accidents Cause Fatal Halloween Deaths

It’s almost Halloween and you know what that means: candy, costumes, pumpkins and, unfortunately, car accidents. Oh, you didn’t know that car accidents were part of the holiday season? Think again.
For many reasons, motor vehicle accidents happen at Halloween time. Between mischief night Oct. 30 and all day but especially into the nighttime on Oct. 31, kids are running around neighborhoods. They are chasing friends and eager to get where they are going. And, unfortunately, more than most other nights, they aren’t obeying the “look both ways” rules.

• Ill-fitting costumes can cause children to trip and fall in the street, in the path of an oncoming car.
• If a child is wearing a mask that doesn’t allow for clear vision, or they are carrying too many props that take their attention away from the task at hand — walking safely out of the path of cars — they can easily get hit.
• Similarly, dark costumes make it very difficult for drivers to see children running across the street.

One of the biggest problems for drivers on Halloween is that they often don’t see trick-or-treaters until it’s too late. They swerve to miss them (one of the top 10 driver mistakes) and hit something else. With children all over the place, swerving to miss one may put another kid (even one who was safe a moment before on the sidewalk) at risk.
Therefore, talk to you children about the importance of safety first on Halloween especially. Suggest they stay on one side of the street and not dart back and forth. Give them flashlights to carry or adhere glow-in-the-dark tape to their costumes. Glow sticks and necklaces are great for this, as well. Even if a driver fails to see the costume, they will see something in the roadway and use caution.
If your child gets hurt in an accident, on Halloween, while walking to school, or any other time, you need a personal injury lawyer who will fight for your family. Often, the ramifications of these accidents don’t appear for a while. Your child may say they aren’t hurt today but the pain comes later. Don’t take chances. Get them medical attention and contact an experienced lawyer who will take a record of what happened and will get your family the compensation you need and deserve.