With Halloween happening this Friday, emergency officials are urging a fun yet safe night of trick-or-treating.
“The smartest Halloween goblins go trick-or-treating with safety foremost in mind,” American Medical Response officials said in a press release. “Research has found a child is more likely to be hit by a car on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Injuries from falls are also common.”
To prevent any scary trips to the emergency room, paramedics at AMR are offering the following tips for parents and children to consider:
- Be sure adults always stay with children. Do not let the group split up.
- Decide on a definite route and timetable before leaving your house. Finish your trip before dark. If your group is still trick-or-treating after dark, stay in well-lit areas.
- If, during your outing, you are at times in the car, make certain everyone in your vehicle is fully buckled up, no matter how short the drive is.
- To help drivers easily see children, costumes should be brightly colored and reflect light. To make dark costumes more visible, strike reflective tape across the chest, back, and on the shoes.
- Be certain children can see where they are going. Use make-up on the kids’ face, not masks. Masks are hard to see and breathe through. Avoid hats, helmets, wigs, and beards.
- Costumes should fit well, not so loose as to trip over or snag on things. The children should wear flat shoes in the right size with closed toes and good tread. Avoid over-sized shoes such as a clown might wear.
- Costumes should be flame-retardant all over, including capes. Carry flashlights, never candles or torches.
- Every child should have at least one hand free, preferably both hands. Instead of letting a child carry a candy bag by hand, add a strap to the bag, drape the bag over one shoulder and under the other arm. Be sure the bag doesn’t drag on the ground. Do not wear monster gloves.
- Insist the children stay on sidewalks, walk facing the traffic, cross only at intersections, do not run across lawns and do not jump in ditches.
- Approach only those houses with outside lighting on. Do not go into homes.
- Do not eat any treats until the group has returned home and an adult has examined each item. Eat nothing that is remotely suspicious looking. Look for items that appear to have been unwrapped and then rewrapped.
- Dress for the weather, stay alert, and keep handy a small first-aid kit for scraped knees and other minor injuries. If any severe injury happens, call 911 immediately.
- Instead of taking risks with door-to-door trick-or-treating, hold a Halloween party at home, tour a haunted house, or participate in a trunk-or-treat event.
