Safety Tips for Halloween from Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets

Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets shares this list of safety tips for tonight. You can join their efforts to make Santa Monica a safer city to walk, bike, take transit or even drive a car, here.

Unfortunately, pedestrian fatalities increase on Halloween. Some tips to stay safe are:

1. Bring a flashlight or lantern to make your presence known near cars. A bright one. Don’t be afraid to use strobe mode to be seen. 
2. Be a celebrating Dodgers fan and use air horns near cars.
3. Trick-or-treat in areas of town where the City has made pedestrian safety improvements for children’s safety (avoid Santa Monica Blvd.)
4. Use scary costumes or social shaming to scare drivers who are driving dangerously or distracted on Halloween.
5. Hold your kids hand and teach them about being a defensive pedestrian.
6. Dress as a traffic cone, or something else that drivers are conditioned to look out to as social commentary on how much power unsafe drivers have in our cities.
7. Buy them the Designing Streets for Kids Guide so they know what safe streets can look like (this may be for future Halloweens.)
8. (Only after trying the above) Avoid wearing dark costumes.

About The Author

Damien Newton

Damien is the executive director of the Southern California Streets Initiative which publishes Santa Monica Next, Streetsblog Los Angeles, Streetsblog San Francisco, Streetsblog California and Longbeachize.

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