On October 31 each year, millions of children in the United States celebrate Halloween by walking door to door to collect candy from neighbors, while adults and adolescents engage in Halloween festivities. The holiday may heighten pedestrian traffic risk, because celebrations occur at dusk, masks restrict peripheral vision, costumes limit visibility, street-crossing safety is neglected, and some partygoers are impaired by alcohol. Mitigating factors include broad public awareness of Halloween, widespread parental supervision of younger children, and the potential for improved safety as pedestrian numbers increase. Prior studies of Halloween traffic risks have been limited to brief observations, failed to test for statistical significance, or lacked appropriate control groups. We therefore examined 4 decades of national data to systematically evaluate pedestrian fatality risks on Halloween and highlight opportunities for year-round injury prevention...
Language: en
LA - en SN - 2168-6211 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.4052 ID - ref1 ER -