One of the most highly anticipated days for most children is Halloween — the opportunity to go trick-or-treating with their friends and binge on candy. Our Chicago personal injury attorneys want to ensure this is a safe Halloween for you and your family. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Halloween is ranked among the top three days of the year for pedestrian injuries, including injuries to children trick-or-treaters. The Detroit Free Press published several tips parents can follow to ensure their children have a fun, and safe Halloween, and we have added a few of our own:
- Go with your child. The most effective way to ensure your children will be safe is having an adult there to monitor the children. If you cannot go with them, see if another adult in their group can go.
- Make sure your child can see! When children are out trick-or-treating, they need to be able to see when crossing streets to prevent serious pedestrian-car accidents. Many costumes marketed to children include masks that actually obstruct the child’s vision. If your son really wants that “Wolverine” costume, and the mask blocks his vision, do you really think he’s going to tell you? Parents need to make sure your child has complete peripheral vision in their costumes. Rather than a mask, parents are recommended using makeup for your child’s face, which will ensure maximum visibility. If you do chose a mask, make sure it is not too large or does not slip down in front of your child’s eyes.
- Make sure your son or daughter can walk freely with his or her costume. Your children are going to be running from house to house in their costume — make sure it fits, and doesn’t have any dangling articles of clothing, that may cause them to trip and fall.
- Wear reflective clothing. If your children are trick-or-treating after dark, make sure they have reflective clothing, or carry glow sticks or flash lights, to ensure they can be seen by those driving the roadways.
- Communicate with your children. If you are not going with them, make sure you know the neighborhood they are trick-or-treating in, know the route they are traveling, make sure someone in their group has a cell phone, and have a set time in which they must return home. Make sure they know to cross the street only at crosswalks, to look both ways before crossing the street, and to use the sidewalk while walking down streets.
- Sort through their candy. There are many types of candy that pose choking hazards, and parents should remove such candy given you’re child’s age. Also, parents should remove any candy that is “homemade”, unwrapped, or looks tampered or otherwise suspect.
- Make sure your child knows not to enter a home without a trusted adult. Otherwise, they should stay outside.
- Make sure child’s costume is flame resistant, and tell children to stay away from candles or other open flames.
Most of all, have fun! We hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful Halloween. For a free consultation with a top-rated Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen & Powell, call (312) 527-4500 for a free consultation.
