How to Drive Safely on Halloween Night

PEKIN, Ill. –– On Halloween, kids will swarm neighborhoods to participate in a sugar-fueled frenzy of door-to-door trick-or-treating. While this is an invigorating event for most kids, parents’ reactions to this ghoulish night usually consist of some measure of anxiety over their kids’ safety. Fortunately, there are plenty of Halloween safety tips for parents to give their kids before they hit the streets and morph into candy goblins.

Keeping kids safe on Halloween should also be considered a community effort that includes parents, neighbors, and even drivers. If you’re planning on hitting the road on Oct. 31, make sure you know how to drive safely on Halloween night during the time kids are trick-or-treating. Here are a few cautionary steps you can take to keep neighborhoods safe.

Try to avoid neighborhood streets.

Unless you’re heading to work or a Halloween party, it’s a good idea to keep your car off residential streets during trick-or-treating hours. Keeping cars off of neighborhood streets on Halloween night greatly decreases the hazard formed when energetic kids in costumes are crossing streets cars are driving down.

Don’t speed through neighborhoods.

If you absolutely have to head out on Halloween night, make sure you drive slower than usual through your neighborhood. While legally you may not be required to drive slower on Halloween, it’s a good idea because, again, it’s likely your neighborhood will be flooded with hyped up kids who aren’t paying much attention to a set of headlights a block away. By driving slowly, it gives you more time to react if a group of goblins, vampires, or ghosts decide to run across an intersection before looking both ways.

Use your floodlights in darker areas.

While most neighborhoods streets are lined with streetlights these days, some residential areas choose not to implement them. These streets can get extremely dark at night, especially on Halloween when the only noticeable light is coming from a few porches with candlelit pumpkins.

Make complete stops at stop signs.

Let’s be honest, it’s more than likely that you roll through a majority of the stop signs in your neighborhood, as most drivers do. While you should always come to complete stops at stop signs, it’s especially important on a night like Halloween. Most kids that are out trick-or-treating won’t think about looking before they run across an intersection. By you coming to a complete stop you can take time to look for these kids before proceeding.

Slow down at intersections without signs.

Even if there aren’t any signs telling you to stop or yield at an intersection, it’s a good idea to slow down as you pass through them. Again, this will give you a chance to spot any trick-or-treaters who aren’t paying close attention to the vehicles driving through their neighborhood.

As a driver on Halloween, it’s your responsibility to help the community keep kids who are out trick-or-treating safe. You can do a lot by choosing not to drive during trick-or-treat times, but if you have to, our used car dealer near Peoria Heights, IL, wants to make sure you know how to drive safely on Halloween night. We share tips like these because we care about our community, but another way we try to keep our neighbors safe is by providing them with quality used cars and trucks they know they can rely on. Visit us for a test-drive and you’ll see what we mean.

At Velde Ford, we're committed to providing our customers with an unbeatable level of service and a great car buying experience. Feel free to visit Velde Ford located at 2200 North 8th Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

Visit our website: VeldeFordPekin.com

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