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Halloween and Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in the United States

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation; Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences

Background: Throughout North America, children celebrate Halloween by walking through residential neighborhoods at dusk while wearing costumes that limit peripheral vision and visibility to drivers.i Few studies have considered traffic injury risks on Halloween.ii Methods: We performed a population-based retrospective study using data on all fatal traffic crashes occurring in the United States between 1975 and 2016. The number of pedestrians involved in fatal crashes between 5:00pm to 11:59pm on October 31st was compared to the number of pedestrians in crashes during identical time intervals on control days one week earlier and one week later.iii Additional analyses examined factors influencing crash risk. Results: Fatal pedestrian crashes were significantly more likely to occur on Halloween (678 crash-involved pedestrians on Halloween evenings versus 912 crash-involved pedestrians on control evenings; odds ratio, 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.36 - 1.64; p-value, < 0.001). Pedestrians aged 4 to 8 years old exhibited the greatest risk increase (odds ratio, 9.00; 95% confidence interval, 5.05 - 16.06; p-value <0.001). Risks were highest from 5:00pm to 7:59pm. Relative risks remained stable over the 42-year study interval despite small decreases in absolute risk. Conclusions: Parents and policymakers may wish to develop strategies to reduce risk of childhood traffic injury on Halloween. These may include the incorporation of reflective patches on Halloween costumes and the elimination of traffic within trick-or-treating areas.

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University of British Columbia. Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC)

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0379178

Medicine, Faculty of; Science, Faculty of; Medicine, Department of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/