Halloween Night! An estimated 40 million children will participate in Halloween celebrations tonight. Second to Christmas, Halloween ranks second, with Americans spending $6.9 billion on Halloween decorations and costumes. With the increased popularity of Halloween and with Halloween falling on a Friday this year, even more children and adults will be out participating in Halloween activities tonight. Unfortunately with this popularity also increases the risk of injury. The most significant risk to children are motor vehicles, and especially those pedestrians after dark. Drivers must be on high alert. |
Deadly risk: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the number of pedestrian related fatalities among children increases significantly on Halloween. On Halloween night, children ages 5-14 are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than any other night of the year. These crashes occur primarily between 6-7pm. Both darkness and speed contribute to the elevated risk of pedestrian deaths with an increase of seven times greater on high-speed roads, five times on urban side streets and three times for slower local roads. | Injury risk: Halloween also includes the highest number of childhood Emergency Department (ED) visits compared to Christmas and July 4th. Ages include 14 and younger with two-thirds being boys and 96.9% are treat and release from the hospital. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics the most common Halloween related-injury that bring children to the hospital include: 1) motor vehicle/pedestrian crashes, 2) falls-resulting in eye injuries from sharp objects, hand fractures and tripping from costumes, and 3) burns from flammable costumes. |