What do Trick-Or-Treating & Distracted Driving Have In Common? INJURIES!
You’re either last-minute shopping on Amazon for your kids Halloween costume, having Grandma sew one together for them, or ordering candy for all of the trick-or-treaters that will be visiting your front door. Now, you’re probably wondering why an insurance agent in Vermont is talking about trick-or-treating. Well, let's get to the point of this blog post.
For parents, Halloween brings on various types of feelings. However, there is one thing that is far more prominent in their thoughts now in 2019 than in earlier years.
In 2017 alone, 7,450 pedestrians died in traffic or non-traffic incidents during Halloween. 18% of these deaths occurred at road crossings or intersections. A decent percentage of these deaths are due to lack of visibility because of low lighting at night. Even scarier, children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than any other day of the year. To add to our tips for a fantastic Halloween below are a few precautionary things you can do to help prevent tragedies or injuries during your night of fun:
Kid Safety
- Masks can obstruct your vision it's a great idea to take them off between houses.
- Add reflective tape to costumes, bags and any other items or accessories attached to your costume
- If they are old enough give them a flashlight
Trick-O-Treating Fun
- Kids should always be accompanied by an adult
- Planned routes and meeting points should be given to older children who may be alone
- Stranger danger should be a clear and understood message for your children
- Traveling in familiar, well-lit areas with friends is the best plan
- Leave electronic devices in bags or at home. Walk with your head up, no running, and always look before crossing the street
- It's also a great idea to carry a flashlight
Heads Up Driving
- Same as pedestrians, put the electronic devices down and avoid the use of touch screen controls while navigating through streets
- Always keep a lookout for children and please keep your speed down
- Enter and exit alleyways and driveways slowly and carefully
- Look for children in dark clothing, those without reflective gear may be hard to spot
- New, inexperienced drivers should be discouraged from driving during Halloween
Perhaps 2019 may be the year you take the pledge as a driver to put down your cell phone and focus on the road. Outside of the obvious injury risk there are some significant insurance impacts that could happen if you get a violation. Distracted driving due to the use of a mobile device is often equal to driving under the influence in the eyes of some insurance carriers. For some carriers, your rates will skyrocket and for others, they would rather not carry you as a liability and in turn, will drop you from their program all together. The two-second message you have to read or write is not as important as that of the life of another human being. There are apps and settings on your phone to help prevent distracted driving, take advantage of these! At the very least, give your independent agent a call to go over your auto insurance coverages. We want to make sure your well covered in the event of an accident!
Happy Halloween and Safe Trick-Or-Treating!!!