Editorial: Streets on Halloween belong to children, so slow down

By: Editorial | Opelika Auburn News
Published: October 28, 2009

This time of year, you read over and over again about Halloween safety tips. Inspect your candy. Don’t walk alone. Make sure your costume is reflective. Don’t go inside a stranger’s home …

The do’s and don’ts are the same every year, making sure “safety first” is at the minds of children and parents. But these same safety tips may have become old hat.

There’s another danger factor lurking on Halloween that few people consider because they’re too wrapped up in safe candy and making sure their children aren’t kidnapped.

It’s vehicles sharing the road with little goblins and fairies.

A report released by Safe Kids USA reveals that pedestrian children are more than twice as likely to be killed by a vehicle on Halloween than any night of the year. Granted, more children walk the streets that night than any night of the year, but there’s no reason why this can’t be made safer.

The organization reported that each year, an average of 2.2 children nationwide were struck and killed on Halloween from 2002 to 2006. That’s a small number, but it’s not so insignificant when it’s your child.

Trick-or-treating is scheduled in Opelika and Auburn for Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Two hours may not seem like a lot of time, but in reality, nobody’s going to eat two hours worth of Tootsie Rolls anyway.

We encourage drivers in both cities, and all municipalities, to remember they are sharing the road more than ever on this night and to take special precautions and drive more defensively than ever.

A driver can coast along at the speed limit in a neighborhood, but when a child darts out of nowhere, even 25 mph can be fatal. It may be a good idea to drive slower than the speed limit and keep a more than wary eye out for anything that may cross your path.

Halloween is a special night for children. Be mindful that they will be crawling through the neighborhoods in search of candy and their little feet will be big part of the streets you travel.

Slow down.

We don’t need to contribute negatively to the statistics.