Special Edition Newsletter | Halloween Safety

Each year the month of October brings many fall traditions – football games, raking leaves and plentiful Halloween and Harvest events. It’s a wonderful time of year for families and children to be creative with costumes and decorations. However, Halloween night does present dangers for children. On average, children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Safe Kids Grand Forks wants to share information with parents and caregivers that can help keep their ghosts and goblins safe.

Be Safe, Be Seen This Halloween!

Keep Costumes Both Creative and Safe

Decorate costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers and, if possible, choose light colors.
Choose face paint and makeup whenever possible instead of masks, which can obstruct a child’s vision.
Have kids carry a flashlight or glowsticks to help them see and be seen by drivers.
When selecting a costume, make sure it is the right size to prevent trips and falls.
Trick or Treat with an adult.
Children under the age of 12 should not be alone at night without adult supervision.
If kids are mature enough to be out without supervision, remind them to stick to familiar areas that are well lit and trick-or-treat in groups.

Walk Safely

Cross the street at corners; use crosswalks and traffic signals when available.
Look left, right and left again when crossing and keep looking as you cross.
Put electronic devices down and keep heads up and walk, don’t run, across the street.
Teach children to make eye contact with drivers before crossing in front of them.
Always walk on sidewalks or paths. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible. Children should walk on direct routes with the fewest street crossings.
Watch for cars that are turning or backing up. Teach children to never dart out into the street or cross between parked cars.

Drive Extra Safe on Halloween

Slow down and be especially alert in residential neighborhoods. Children are excited on Halloween and may move in unpredictable ways.
Take extra time to look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs.
Enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully.
Eliminate any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings.
Drive slowly, anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic and turn your headlights on earlier in the day to spot children from greater distances.
Popular trick-or-treating hours are 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. so be especially alert for kids during those hours.

Consider attending alternative Halloween/Harvest events.

Many churches, community centers and businesses throughout our region host events in their facilities and/or parking lots to offer a safe alternative to trick or treating on residential streets. Each fall, Safe Kids Grand Forks compiles a list of events throughout the region and makes it available on our Facebook page.

If you know of public Halloween/Harvest events at your agency, church or within your community and you would like Safe Kids Grand Forks to promote them, please contact us at safekids@altru.org.

Safe Edible Storage

Day of Action - October 25, 2023

You may be able to tell the difference between marijuana edibles and candy, but young children may not. Keep edibles separate from food and locked up, away, and out of sight.

Safe Routes to School Maps Available as a Safety Resource

Periodically, the Safe Routes to School Maps from Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are updated to reflect changes in crosswalks, speed limits, bike pathways, signage or beacon additions, etc. This year, there were significant changes made to the maps to hopefully make them slightly more user friendly and simplified.

Follow this link below to get to the maps from our community's schools and find the safest way for your students to get to and from school this year if they are walking or biking. Thanks to our partners with the Grand Forks - East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization for taking the lead in this work to update these valuable resources. (Sample map shown from just one school. See link for more.)

Safe Routes To School Maps - Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization (theforksmpo.org)

ND Brain Injury Network - Digital Recruitment

You are invited to participate in an ANONYMOUS research study to brain injuries and psychological distress. We are interested in having people take this survey who have had any level of known or suspected brain injury, or no injury at all. If you are 18 years old or older living in North America (US or Canada) and legally able to provide consent, you are welcome to complete our study!

This research is being conducted as part of the dissertation project of Laura Gorman, at the University of North Dakota. In addition to asking about any head injuries, we will also ask you questions about yourself, your relationships, your well0being and how much you use alcohol or drugs. We will not ask your name, and we will not collect any information about you that would allow us to identify you.

Anyone interested in participating in this study may follow this link to access the informed consent and survey documents.

Survey Link:

https://und.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4HoNJElYacAJrNk

Buckle Up Phone Down: A safety challenge that can make a difference.

Grand Forks, ND – Safe Kids Grand Forks is challenging our employees, customers, and partners to pledge their commitment to community safety by taking a pledge to wear a seat belt and avoid using cell phones and electronic devices while diving.

Buckle Up Phone Down (BUPD) is being introduced by Vision Zero, North Dakota’s traffic safety initiative to end motor vehicle fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.

Safe Kids Grand Forks is excited to join other businesses and organizations in North Dakota to make a positive impact in our community by sharing the message and encouraging divers to take the pledge to buckle up and put their phones down.

Nearly 67% of motor vehicle fatalities in North Dakota in 2022 were unbelted where seat belts were available. Additionally, distracted driving is one of the fastest growing safety issues on the road today. The BUPD program aims to reduce the risk of crashes and decrease the number of fatalities and serious injuries by simply following two tenets: buckle up and put your phone down.

Join us by taking the pledge, snapping a photo with thumbs up/thumbs down, and posting it to social media using the hashtag #NDBUPD. Then challenge others to do the same. Together, we can save lives.

Learn more about this program and the Vision Zero initiative by visiting VisionZero.ND.gov.