It’s a late night, the evening of October 31st. The roads flood with children ranging from 3 to 23 years old in various costumes traversing down dimly lit roads to obtain the most anticipated reward: candy! However, an infamous trick lurks within the shadows during trick or treating. Cars. Cars are already one of the top child killers in the United States, right alongside guns. A study conducted by the US News shows that four thousand children died from car accidents in 2016, averaging 20 deaths per day! This number nearly triples on Halloween, reaching almost 60, as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Combining the fact that Halloween occurs at night, which reduces visibility, and the fact that many costumes are difficult to distinguish in the darkness makes drivers especially susceptible to getting into a car crash with a kid dressed as Lego Batman or the guy from Fortnite. Considering the carnage that happens across the country, would it be ethical to continue allowing parents to drive around their children?
The dangers that arise from the consequences of low visibility are critical to the spike in accidents caused by car accidents during trick or treating. Since the most common color of costumes is black, it will blend in with the darkness of the night, making it hard to spot children until it is too late. Quartz Hill High School Student Catherine Le also believes this: “I don’t believe cars should be permitted as a form of transportation during the Halloween season. There are many factors to this but the risks on its own are concerning. With so many children around at night—a lot of them unsupervised, an accident is bound to happen. Especially since trick-or-treating tends to occur after the sun has already set, limiting drivers vision.” Parents should start considering walking with their children to trick or treat instead of driving them around, as that will not only keep the general public safer it also can create a fun bonding experience with said child. Furthermore, according to Swov: Institute For Road Safety Research, children up to 10 years old cannot pinpoint cause and effect, are unable to look at things from another perspective, and are generally unable to comprehend that they are in danger. Since the average age of trick-or-treaters also lies in that age range, it is safe to assume that they would be susceptible to such horseplay and cause trouble that may cause a peer’s death. That being said, those who wish to drive during Halloween are still in luck.
Sure, cars are one of the primary ways people get into accidents during Halloween, but that doesn’t mean cars are the entire problem. Parents must be accountable for the children they took out to trick or treat, which means holding onto them and ensuring they do not get into an accident themselves. Neighborhoods can also create a way to prevent accidents by placing additional protections like reflective lights on the sidewalks and limiting foot traffic to one direction per sidewalk. Quartz Hill High School student Zachary Cohn claims, “Yes cars should still be allowed to use during trick or treating transportation but additional protections should be put in place to protect trick or treaters who are on foot.” Nevertheless, it is impossible to contain human nature and the tendency to be free, so accidents are bound to happen no matter how many restrictions you put into it. Getting to the source and removing the problem from its roots could be a better solution, but in an imperfect world like ours, there is and won’t ever be a surefire way to solve this problem or any problem of this magnitude. All we can do is work together and stay safe this Spooky Season.
