Halloween Driving Tips to Keep Trick-or-Treaters Safe

JACKSON, Mich. –– While it’s important for parents to imbue safety in their kids on nights like Halloween, it’s also the responsibility of drivers to make sure neighborhood streets aren’t dangerous. If you’re planning on hitting the road on Oct. 31, follow these Halloween driving tips to keep trick-or-treaters safe.

Try not to drive in neighborhoods.

You might not be able to avoid neighborhood streets completely, but you should avoid them as much as possible. Residential areas are where drivers pose the most danger to trick-or-treaters on Halloween, seeing as most kids are more concerned with filling bags with candy than they are with looking for vehicles coming their way. That’s why the best way to avoid any hazards is to simply not drive through neighborhoods, unless you absolutely have to.

Get rid of your lead foot.

Halloween is not the time to be speeding, especially in a residential area. In fact, you might even want to consider driving slower than the speed limit when you’re in a neighborhood. The fact is, most trick-or-treaters are going to cross streets without looking both ways. Even if you’re going the speed limit you could be travelling at a speed that inhibits your ability to make a quick decision or to stop in time. If you drive slowly it gives you plenty of time to become aware of your surroundings as you move down a street, and plenty of time to hit the brakes if need be.

Shine your brightest lights in dark places.

Some neighborhoods don’t have streetlights to illuminate their streets, which can make it difficult for drivers to see anything beyond the limited scope of visibility their headlights create. In these cases, it’s best to use your brights––fog lights––to broaden your visibility. This will allow you to spot trick-or-treaters further away, keeping you aware of the dark places where kids are lurking on Halloween.

Stop and look at stop signs.

Halloween is not the night to be rolling through stop signs, although you should always come to a complete stop at stop signs no matter what time or day it is. But on Oct. 31, when kids are running to and fro in search of candy, it’s more necessary than ever to come to complete stops. This gives you time to look around for kids who might be at the intersection, whereas rolling through limits your awareness.

Slow down to look for kids at intersections.

Not all intersections have stop signs or yield signs, but on Halloween it’s a good idea to slow down and look around before going through intersections anyway. Again, many trick-or-treaters are unconcerned with vehicles because they’re too focused on how much candy they can collect on Halloween. By yielding at all intersections, you can take time to look for kids who might be ready to run in front of you without thinking.

At our Lincoln dealer near Mason, MI, we want trick-or-treaters and drivers to stay safe on Halloween. The best ways we can make that happen are to provide our customers with Halloween driving tips to keep trick-or-treaters safe, but also to provide them with quality new Lincoln cars that showcase all of the most impressive safety features of the 21st century. Stop by this fall for a test-drive and you’ll understand what we mean.

Seymour Ford Lincoln is located at 2601 Seymour Road in Jackson, Michigan 49201. No matter what your auto need, we will work hard to ensure you never leave our dealership unsatisfied! Visit us at SeymourFord.com and SeymourLincoln.net or give us a call at (517) 787-9500.

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