Halloween Safety Tips

Posted in safety on October 16, 2017

Halloween is a fun and exciting time of year, and many American children look forward to dressing up as their favorite characters and scary monsters to go trick-or-treating. Halloween is also a cause for celebration among adults who might host costume parties or attend Halloween-themed events. While Halloween can be lots of fun, it can also be a dangerous day for children and adults alike. Before Halloween arrives, consider the following tips for you and your family to have a safe and enjoyable holiday:

Halloween Safety Tips for Kids

• Check your kids’ costumes. Children’s Halloween costumes often feature ties, straps, accessories, and removable parts. Before you let your children go trick-or-treating, make sure their costume fits properly and all the straps, ties, and buttons are secure. Check for anything that could be a tripping hazard, such as costumes with long robes or flowing dresses. Additionally, consider buying costumes that use face paint instead of masks. A mask can obstruct a child’s vision, especially at night.
• Provide children with safety gear. Make sure older children trick-or-treating alone have a cell phone to contact you if necessary. Consider applying reflective tape to your child’s treat bag, shoes, or bits of his or her costume. This will help make your child more visible when going door-to-door.
• Clear the yard of tripping hazards. Many people decorate their homes and lawns for Halloween. If you’re planning to be outside handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, make sure there is a clear path to you from your sidewalk and nothing that a child could trip over.
• Use good judgment walking near or on the road. If you are taking kids trick-or-treating, make sure to only cross the road at designated crosswalks and intersections. If children are trick-or-treating with friends, ensure they know not to run between parked cars into the street. Kids can get very excited while trick-or-treating, but it’s important for them to remain safe while doing so. If there is no sidewalk and you must walk in the road, stay as far to the left side of the road as possible, facing oncoming traffic. This will make you more visible to oncoming cars.
• Drive carefully. Drivers moving about on Halloween should exercise extra caution. When travelling through residential areas, make sure you turn on your car’s lights while moving through neighborhoods so trick-or-treaters can spot you. It’s also wise to travel slower than you usually would in case you need to make a sudden stop.
• Check candy. Unfortunately, some individuals use Halloween as an opportunity to harm children with toxic candy or by hiding things like pins and razors inside of treats. Inspect your children’s treats once they finish trick-or-treating. Discard anything that looks homemade, repackaged, opened, or suspicious.
• Drink responsibly. Many adults host costume parties or attend bars for Halloween events. If you plan to attend such an event, make sure you have a designated driver or use a taxi or ridesharing app like Uber or Lyft to get home safely. If you plan on hosting an event and serving alcohol, make sure all your guests are of legal age to drink and don’t get behind the wheel after drinking.

Most of these tips are general common sense, so don’t let the fun of the evening distract you from being safe during Halloween. If you or a loved one suffer an injury that you believe happened due to another party’s negligence, address your medical concerns first and then reach out to a reliable Dayton personal injury lawyer to discuss your options for legal recourse.