Authorities urge trick-or-treating pedestrian safety

Halloween is a holiday many kids look forward to all year, but Oct. 31 is also a day during which authorities are urging pedestrian safety.

A national study found pedestrian fatalities are 43% higher on Halloween, and fatalities among children ages 4-8 walking around on Halloween night are 10 times more likely in the evening.

Researchers say the riskiest hour is from 6-7 p.m. If you do trick-or-treat Monday night, authorities are urging families to do it safely with these tips:

• Make sure costumes and candy buckets are reflective or carry a glow stick.
• Always use the sidewalk and avoid cutting across yards or using alleys.
• Look both ways before crossing the street.
• Be careful in general when going up to houses.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke to parents at Halloween activities over the weekend, and some are working to instill those habits before the holiday.

“Our mailbox is on the other side of the street, so we practice going getting the mail and stopping and looking both ways, and looking both ways when coming back, those types of stuff,” said parent Neer Dutta.

In another effort, more people each year are hoping to move Halloween to a different day.

Right now, a change.org petition to move Halloween to the last Saturday of the month has about 160,000 signatures.

“If you do it on Saturday, it kind of eliminates the traffic … the business traffic … people don’t leave early to get home to get the costumes, get the children out,” Pete Geiger with the Farmers’ Almanac told ABC in a Zoom interview last week.

Find more fall and Halloween coverage with KSTP.