Kids are twice as likely to be fatally hit by a car on Halloween. Mind these safety tips.

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Sloppy roads trigger reader outrage John Cichowski, The Road Warrior, @njroadwarrior

The day devoted to ghosts, goblins and house-to-house candy hunts kills more American kids than any other day of the year

If you’re about to dress your little ones in scary ghost, witch or goblin attire for their big candy-begging day, you may want to pay attention to the answer to this genuinely scary question:

On which day of the year are American children most susceptible to being fatally injured in traffic?

(Hint: It’s a holiday.)

According to the National Safety Council and several studies, Halloween is the day when children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed than on any other day.

At a time when pedestrian deaths are rising to record levels in New Jersey, it might be good to consider some of the risks inherent in going door to door while wearing blinding masks and trip-inducing sheets that extend past shoes as cars whiz by at or near dusk. 

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A dangerous evening

One 21-year analysis by the State Farm Insurance Co. placed the nationwide number of average Halloween deaths involving children at 5.5 fatalities for each Oct. 31, compared with 2.6 for the remaining 364 days of the year.

Scary? Sure, but it gets worse.

An analysis just released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that 44 percent of the 168 people of all ages killed in road crashes on Halloween from 2012 to 2016 were involved in collisions involving drunken drivers. Again, younger people were at the most risk. Drivers in the 21-to-34-year-old range accounted for nearly half these deaths.

Although Halloween tragedies have been relatively rare in New Jersey in the recent past, most police departments take precautions when youngsters are trick-or-treating. Many of them send officers into the schools on the days preceding the holiday to warn children to wear colorful clothing, to cross only at crosswalks and, ideally, to trick-or-treat with their parents. Written reminders are usually sent home with kids.

“We also ask parents to please get their children indoors a half-hour before sundown,” said Leonia police Capt. Scott Tamagny. “And we extend our crossing- guard shifts to 7 p.m. in the central business district.”

Is that enough? Do these reminders reach home? Do parents even read them?

“Police can do just so much,” said Arnold Anderson, a former cop and fatal crash reconstructionist who now runs the New Jersey Teen Safe Driving Coalition. “Parents should be setting an example for their kids, but too often they don’t.”

The proof of that lies in the statistics.

Pedestrian fatalities rising in NJ

Pedestrian fatalities for all ages are rising at a rate not seen in a quarter-century. Last year, preliminary state police figures showed that 183 people were killed — the most since 1994. By Oct. 29 last year, 132 pedestrians had died. By the same date this year, the number stood at 135.

In four of the more urban counties north of Middlesex — Bergen, Hudson, Passaic and Essex — the state police preliminary tally has included more pedestrian deaths (60) than all other categories including drivers, passengers and bicyclists (54). The 50-to-79-year-old cohort accounted for 81 deaths.

At five walking fatalities, children under 16 so far have accounted for less than 4 percent of the overall total, and the number of these deaths has been declining in the last several years. Nevertheless, authorities advise caution on the day when — statistically, at least — kids are more vulnerable than the rest of us.

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The Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University offers this context: Halloween often puts four times the number of children on a town’s roads and sidewalks than normal, often at dusk, when driver visibility is at its worst.

“They’re excited, they’re wearing masks that can block their vision and they’re short, so drivers sometimes don’t see them run from between parked cars,” a spokeswoman said.

Halloween safety tips

Here are a few tips from various traffic-safety sources for keeping the deadly numbers as low as possible:

• Children under 14 should be accompanied by adults.
• All walkers should wear light, colorful clothing — ideally with reflective tape.
• Trick-or-treating should end before sundown, but adults and children should nevertheless bring flashlights.
• Pedestrians should always use crosswalks — ideally crosswalks that are plainly marked.
• Avoid masks that impair vision.
• Parents and children should consider staying home. Many communities participate in other Halloween activities, such as Trunk or Treat, which don’t involve crossing busy streets at or near dusk.
• Young drivers should also consider staying home, or at least avoid driving, on the holiday. A State Farm study showed that drivers under age 26 participated in nearly one-third of Halloween fatal crashes involving children.

One more point: October’s menace isn’t confined to Halloween. As days get shorter and temperatures turn fickle each fall, it usually becomes the first- or second-most-dangerous month for road travel, a distinction it shares with sultry July.

Email: cichowski@northjersey.com

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