The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have teamed up to help keep pedestrians safe this Halloween.
As trick-or-treaters take to the streets on October 31, their risk of being injured by a motor vehicle increases significantly. Dark colored costumes make pedestrians less visible to drivers, while masks can obscure trick-or-treaters’ vision.
On Halloween night 2016, between 6 p.m. and 5.59 a.m., 47 people died on the roads. Almost a third of these deaths were caused by drunk drivers; three times the number of fatalities on an average day. Pedestrians accounted for 30% of Halloween crash fatalities, compared with 16% on an average day.
NHTSA and FHWA offer the following tips:
- Drivers should reduce speeds in residential neighborhoods and obey all traffic signs and signals.
- Motorists should travel at least 5 mph below the posted speed limit to give themselves extra time to react to children who may dart into the street.
- Parents should review safety precautions, including pedestrian and traffic safety rules.
