When you think of the Halloween season, you think of free candy, dressing up and the weather after a hot summer. There are haunted houses, scary masks and costumes that can seem pretty realistic. And while those may scare you a bit, I bet what you don't think of will scare you even more.
In actuality, Halloween is by far more dangerous than any other day of the year. There is an average of 5.5 child pedestrian deaths each October 31, which is more than double the average number of deaths, which is 2.6, on any other day. There were 115 deaths between 1990 and 2010 on Halloween, and half of those were caused by drunk drivers.
Thankfully, drunk driving numbers continue to decrease.
$13 million worth of property damage are caused by fires each Halloween, and 41 people are harmed by fires each year. There are also 3,800 Halloween related injuries each year. Despite these high numbers, safety is often the last thing on people's minds when preparing for a fun night of trick-or-treating.
"I know safety should be a big part of my planning for Halloween, but I also know I usually don’t think much about it and to be honest I feel like a lot of people are the same," Sam Cabral, a student at Park View High School, told me. "We know it’s important but we get so caught up in actually enjoying our time we push off the whole safety part."
But fellow student Natalie Wilson disagreed with her. "Yeah, safety is a big part of Halloween planning for me. It’s dark outside and everyone’s in costume so I feel like it’s somewhat more dangerous than most nights."
Natalie would be right, but only 35% of parents discuss safety on Halloween night with their children. In fact, 12% of trick-or-treaters under the age of 6 go alone.
In an interview with CBS, Scott Humphrey, who runs risk control for Travelers, said that 'there are on average 17 percent more crime-related claims on Halloween.'
There is also a 50% increase in violent crimes on the night of October 31, according to Northwestern University professor James Alan Fox. At least in Atlanta, police go to known felons' houses to make sure they're home the night of Halloween.
Bert Sperling and Piper Smith launched an investigation in 2011, and determined that 6pm-7pm is the deadliest hour of the night. Unfortunately, that's when most trick-or-treaters are out. Like Sam, most people go out 'whenever it gets dark', which in most places is in the 6 o'clock hour, or close to it.
“The analysis of [the data Sperling and Smith uncovered] highlights the particular need for parents to be especially alert during Halloween,” said Kellie Clapper, assistant vice president of Public Affairs at State Farm.
On that cheerful note, here are some fun Halloween facts.
90% of parents admit to sneaking candy from kids’ bags. I guess the other 10% are just too scared to admit it. And 30% of kids sort their candy after getting home.
About 37.6 people dress up their pet for Halloween each year in America, which is 11.5% of the country. But unfortunately, only half the US decorates the outside of their house.
The candy industry lobbied to get Daylight Savings Time pushed into November to allow more daylight and more time for children to get candy on Halloween.
Illinois leads the US in amount of pumpkin produced, with 496 billion pounds a year.
Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!
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