Trick or Treat Safety Tips

As a young Trick-or-Treater this is probably the last thing on their minds, but as a parent it is foremost. A few tips to make the night safer on Halloween.

With kids roaming the neighborhoods to try to fill their bags with Halloween treasure, factors including distraction, traffic and low-light conditions can put them at-risk of injury.

Even though it's meant to be a night for fun for young and old, pedestrian-vehicle injuries can and do take place from one house to the next.

According Tara Flynn, M.D., a family medicine physician at Mizzou Urgent Care, one of the more common and serious causes of injury on Halloween is a motor vehicle striking a pedestrian.

Some tips for the young ghosts and goblins include:

· Always use a sidewalk when available.

· If there are no sidewalks, walk as far to the left of the street as possible, facing traffic so you can see oncoming cars.

· When crossing the street, look both ways and continue to look from side to side while crossing.

· Use intersections when possible to cross streets.

· Do not dart out onto a street from behind parked cars.

· Be alert and walk with a group instead of individually.

· Parents of older children above the age of 12 who trick or treat on their own should know the route their kids take and when they plan to return home.

· Older trick or treaters also should carry a cell phone in case of emergency.

Enjoy the fun Halloween night and be safe!