PennDOT Reminds Parents, Children to Follow Halloween Safety Guidelines

As Halloween approaches, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is reminding parents and children to use extra caution while trick-or-treating.

“Halloween is an exciting time for kids and their parents. Trick-or-treating is a major part of the fun,” said PennDOT Engineering District 1 Executive Bill Petit.

“Before heading out to collect treats around the neighborhood, parents should make sure to review pedestrian safety rules with their children.”

Halloween is one of the top three days for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. On an average day in 2013, 15 percent of all fatalities involved a pedestrian, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). On Halloween that number increased to 31 percent.

Last year, there were 29 crashing involving pedestrians in Pennsylvania during Halloween weekend.

PennDOT recommends the following Halloween pedestrian safety tips:

• Always cross the street at a corner and look left, right, and left again.
• Obey traffic signals while crossing streets. Never try to beat the light.
• If there is no sidewalk, walk on the left hand side of the road – facing traffic.
• Never walk out between parked cars.
• Carry a flashlight and/or wear reflective tape.
• Lift masks while walking house to house and don’t cut across yards or driveways.
• Always trick-or-treat in groups.

To help keep pedestrians safe, area police officers will be on the lookout for impaired drivers as part of a statewide enforcement operation that runs October 25 to 31. This includes sobriety checkpoints and roving DUI patrols.

According to PennDOT data, there were 444 vehicle crashes statewide on Halloween last year. In PennDOT District 1, there were 22 crashes, which includes Crawford County, six crashes; Erie County, 11 crashes; Forest County, no crashes; Mercer County, one crash; Venango County, two crashes; and Warren, two crashes.