
DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280394

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Public Safety 

SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

TRICK-OT-TREATERS NEED TO BE WARY OF INCREASED TRAFFIC ON DARK STREETS

Ghosts, goblins and ghouls aren't the real frights of Halloween night.

Cars are.

Young trick-or-treaters are four times more likely to be killed by a car on Halloween night than young pedestrians on any other night of the year, a national study found.

The study looked at car accidents in which pedestrians 5 to 14 were killed in the last 22 years in the United States. The data does not include information about children who were injured but survived.

Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said the statistics don't surprise him.

``It's the biggest night of the year that kids are out after dark. Fortunately, around here we've been very lucky in not having accidents,'' said Hill, who couldn't remember a local trick-or-treater being hit and killed by car in recent years.

Last Halloween night in Virginia, no pedestrians were killed. Three pedestrians were injured in car accidents but none were children, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

In fact, since 1990, no Virginia children ages 5 to 14 have been killed on Halloween night. Between 1990 and 1995, 28 children ages 5 to 14 were killed by cars at night, according to an analysis of data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System.

The only child killed by a car on a Halloween night this decade was a 17-year-old boy who was killed in Franklin in 1994.

But the low statistics belie a real danger, say local traffic safety advocates and police. The very nature of Halloween festivities puts kids in the way of cars, they say. And while deaths may be rare, injuries from car accidents can also be severe, they say.

Kids with candy on their brains and sugar in their veins run from house to house, often crossing the street mid-block or forgetting to look both ways. And darkly clad, small trick-or-treaters blend into the night, making them hard for drivers to see, police say.

Nationally, 89 children ages 5 to 14 were killed by cars on Halloween nights in the last 22 years. That's an average of four deaths each Halloween, compared to an average of one death on every other night of the year, the study stated.

Trick-or-treaters and drivers need to take heed, safety advocates say.

Halloween is a favorite holiday among adults as well as children, which means kids and cars are out in full force, said Kim Tamburino, who talks about traffic safety issues for Budweiser. Halloween is the third-most-celebrated holiday, behind New Year's Eve and the Superbowl, she said.

So both trick-or-treaters and drivers need to heed the following advice:

Be aware of your surroundings and proceed cautiously.

Establish a route for children in a known neighborhood.

Wear light-colored or reflective clothing.

Consider wearing face paint instead of masks.

Do not wear masks or hats that obscure sight or hearing.

To keep from tripping, do not wear oversize shoes and long clothes.

Use flashlights but do not point them directly at drivers.

Stay on sidewalks and look both ways before crossing.

Cross streets at designated crosswalks and intersections.

Do not cross directly in front of a parked car.

Walk in groups.