“Trick or Treat!” I remember as a child the excitement as Halloween approached. We would get in our costumes and go around the neighborhood with the largest sack we could find to collect candy. Everyone knew everybody in the neighborhood and looked after the children to make sure we were safe.
Part of the danger to a child is they can’t see that well wearing a mask. Some of the costumes also meant that you could not be seen that well, too. We, the trick or treaters, had on our minds getting to as many houses as we could so that we could get more candy. We weren’t thinking about could a driver see us.
The idea never entered our minds that just because we could see someone, it did not mean that the driver saw us! You see that same thing with people who ride bicycles at night without lights on them. They ride like they think everyone can see them. They could easily get hit, because a driver may not be able to see them.
We will “fall” back an hour early Sunday morning when the time changes at 2 A.M. to standard time in the Central Time Zone. Clocks will be set back an hour. However, drivers will take a longer time to make the adjustment. CNN reported in 2007 the study of Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. They found that pedestrian per-mile risk jumps 186 percent from October to November, but then drops 21 percent in December. “It’s not the darkness itself, but the adjustment to earlier nighttime that’s the killer,” according to the professors.
In the meantime, children will be out tonight trick or treating. Besides candy, give them the gift of safety. Be extra careful when driving. Take precautions with them when they are out walking from house to house and crossing streets. Make sure their costumes have reflective material and things easily seen. Remember, too, that besides tonight, be especially careful when you drive these next few months. You have to adjust to an earlier nighttime and the chances of an accident are much high. Please give the gift of safety.
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