Tag: Halloween

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Trunk or treat Halloween

I’ve been saddened over the years about trunk or treat.

It’s a become a fun event for communities and families all over the US, so this isn’t a Halloween tradition bashing.

Trunk or treat

Wandering around in a parking lot collecting candy from the trunks of cars just doesn’t match the thrill of running around town getting a pillow case load of candy, peripherally supervised by parents, if at all.

Halloween is the deadliest day of the year for kids, so it’s very good that Halloween has evolved.

*This is a postscript after a near tragic moment last evening after this article was published: A driver turned onto our street and ran over the “NJ Law Stop For Pedestrians” bollard, crushing it in the middle of the intersection, and drove off. It could have been a child. 

Drivers might be distracted, intoxicated, or inattentive, so we advocate for streets that are designed to be safe on Halloween and every day in Asbury Park. Streets need better lighting, curb extensions and other traffic calming measures.

Drivers rule our roads, so it’s good that Halloween has evolved. 

This afternoon there are many more families walking along the sidewalk in front of our house than on a normal day at 5pm. The littles are carefully supervised by adults. Even under a mom’s watchful eye, a little superman dashed into the street as a driver sped by. She grabbed him in time.

Our house is at a main intersection in a relatively quiet part of our city, and as we sit on our porch waiting for the trick-or-treaters, the kids eagerly looking toward the next house to get treats, we also see drivers zooming up to the stop signs and rolling right through.

Trunk-or-Treat will remain a part of American  Halloween.

Automobiles are part of our culture, and our streets are not safe with drivers who behave as if roads belong to them.

Families and kids should have options to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods, and also trunk-or-treat with their school, town, or church community if they want to, not because they have to.

Loads of kids come to our neighborhood every Halloween, so we can see that families still choose to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods that they feel are safe.

We have to build cities that are truly safe for the most vulnerable, and not having to hang out in a parking lot on Halloween.

Unless families want to because it’s really fun.

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor APCSC

 

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Car Crashes Are The Leading Cause of Death Among Kids 5-18. On Halloween It’s Much Worse

Car crashes remain the leading cause of death among children ages 5 to 18. “According to 2018 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data out this week, pedestrian deaths increased for the fifth year in a row, up 3.4 percent from 2017. The numbers are particularly grim for American school-age kids. For children in the U.S. aged 5 to 18, car crashes remain the leading cause of death.”

On Halloween it’s 43 percent more deadly.

There has been a change in Daylight Saving Time to add an hour of daylight to Halloween, but that hasn’t changed the horrible statistics. There is a petition to change Halloween to a Saturday.  But the real problem is cars and dangerous street design. When the data is acknowledged, there’s usually a marketing campaign that blames pedestrians. This time of year, the internet is plastered in Halloween-themed PSAs reminding children to wear bright costumes, carry flashlights, and stop looking at their phones. This is NOT the solution. It’s #toomanycars, #slowthecars, and #bancarsonhalloween.

THE MOST TERRIFYING PART OF HALLOWEEN FOR KIDS IS OUR DEADLY STREETS

It’s not the costumes or the candy—it’s the cars.

By Alissa Walker  
The scariest part of Halloween is our unsafe streets.
According to 2018 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data out this week, pedestrian deaths increased for the fifth year in a row, up 3.4 percent from 2017. The numbers are particularly grim for American school-age kids. For children in the U.S. aged 5 to 18, car crashes remain the leading cause of death.

On Halloween it’s much worse.

Halloween night is, on average, 43 percent more deadly for pedestrians than other autumn nights. The highest rates of fatal crashes were seen for kids aged 4 to 8 around 6 p.m.

But when the commuting drivers are removed from the equation, deaths seem to go down. A study by AutoInsurance.org used FARS data to compare 24 years of crash data by days of the week. Halloweens that fell on workdays had an 83 percent increase in deadly crashes involving kids compared to weekend days. The worst day? Friday. Since 1994, the three deadliest Halloween nights for kids have all been Friday nights.

Last year, an online petition sponsored by the Halloween & Costume Association got national momentum for trying to move the holiday to the last Saturday in October, in part to reduce car crashes. Now a revised petition wants to keep the date of Halloween the same, but add a separate National Trick or Treat Day that would be celebrated on that final Saturday.

Moving Halloween to Saturday doesn’t actually solve the problem: Our deadly streets.

Read more:

https://www.curbed.com/2019/10/25/20927701/halloween-safety-pedestrian-deaths-kids

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DRIVERS: It’s Your Responsibility

This is one of the few PSAs we’ve seen that’s aimed at the DRIVER. Let’s get this message out loud and clear!

In addition, they’ve addressed the use of the dehumanizing term “pedestrian”:

“What do you think of when you hear that “…a pedestrian was hit?”

Your best friend?

A neighbor?

Someone important in your life?

Probably not. We have put the plight of the person out of our minds and replaced it with the sterile pedestrian.

Now what do you think of when you hear that “…a young child was hit?”

It should feel extremely uncomfortable, maybe even offensive, to have these distressing emotions broached.

Yet, therein lies the problem: Instead of confronting safety issues head-on, our society has largely relegated this as taboo topic. We literally do not think about these crashes and evade the horror with euphemistic language.”

http://kidzneurosciencecenter.com/the-word-pedestrian/

Thanks Walksafe.org!

The University of Miami WalkSafe program is a pediatric injury prevention program working directly with public schools through our free 3-day educational curriculum and safety resources.

WalkSafe also encourages physical activity through walking to school and advocates for facilities and infrastructure improvements to the school environment by collaborating with local governments, traffic planners, school districts and the community.

http://iwalksafe.org/

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Drivers Are Responsible On Halloween

APCSC would like to see driving restricted, or at the very least speeds strictly enforced on days like July 4th and Halloween. People walking, and especially kids walking are unpredictable and vulnerable when costumes, candy or fireworks are involved. Cars have no place in these events. Light sticks and flashlights are great, but the responsibility for injuries and deaths falls upon drivers of motor vehicles.

“Using National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, the researchers compared pedestrian deaths on Halloween nights with deaths on two evenings the week before and the week after. They found car-pedestrian accidents kill four more people on average on Halloween than on other days.”

HALLOWEEN CAN BE DEADLY FOR PEDESTRIANS – AND KIDS ARE MOST AT RISK

Trick-or-treaters beware: Halloween can be deadly for pedestrians and children face the greatest danger. New research found a 43 percent higher risk of pedestrian deaths on Halloween night than on other nights near that date.

Read: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/halloween-can-be-deadly-for-pedestrians/