Halloween a Deadly Reminder of the Failures of U.S. Traffic Safety

Alex Engel and Becca Freer write about the tragic risk to young pedestrians on Halloween, describing both the conditions on the holiday and the larger context of declining pedestrian safety:

A frightening statistic makes the rounds every year around this time: In the U.S., kids under 17 are three times more likely to die in traffic on Halloween than any other day of the year.

Moreover:

That figure reflects the surge of trick-or-treaters taking to streets that are not well designed for people walking, especially after dark, with predictably deadly results. But it’s also just one facet of a much larger pedestrian safety crisis that’s been developing over decades.

The writers, both of whom work in communications for NACTO, prescribe a list of "Safe System Approach" actions to reverse the trend of rising pedestrian fatalities—on Halloween and every day of the year.