Colossal Choices: A Dino's Decisions on Halloween

Why didn’t Skelly the skeleton cross the road? He had no guts.

Yes. I went there. Because I don't want you to be like Skelly. We all love a good scare on Halloween. I personally love a good spooky pumpkin. Very demure, very cutsey, very mindful. Maybe you plan on trick-or-treating with friends, watching a scary movie, or just giving a skeleton a high five. (*Tip* share how you safely celebrate Halloween and tag us on socials @SADDNation). But first, let's talk about how we can stay safe on the roads as pedestrians and enjoy the good kind of scary.

We know that there's a lot of traffic on Halloween. That doesn't just include the roadways though. We're also talking about the traffic of people walking around. Pedestrians. Trick-or-Treaters. The people traveling on bikes and scooters. Today, that's you.

So we're going to play a game of choose your own adventure. We're going to name you Jordan. It's Halloween morning and you decide that you want to be an inflatable dinosaur. Why not right? You'll be the talk of the town. Now that you have your costume picked out, you start to think, “How can I help people see me walking around? I mean …..I wouldn't want them to think I'm an actual dinosaur.…”

Time to make a choice, Jordan. You can:

A.) Bring a flashlight with you

B.) Put shoe reflectors on

C.) Bring a plant to nom nom on

D.) A and B

I have a feeling you choose D…… unless you’re hungry…. but yes! Bringing a flashlight with you would help keep you and others safe. One of the biggest problems in the dark is that things aren't as visible. Bringing flashlights to make sure that you can see is a great way to be safe. Just make sure you don’t shine it into traffic. Wearing reflectors on your shoes, adding some blinking lights to your outfit, or a reflective belt, can help others see you as well. Don’t have any? Wear something brightly colored. Try to skip the black and dark colors that can't be easily seen in the dark.

Now, you are faced with another choice. You go out in your super-cool bright green dino costume. You've got your reflectors and flashlight to make a big bang flash. Your friends text you to meet them on the corner of 1st and Monroe. You get to the end of the street and notice that there isn’t a crosswalk. You see that one street down has one, but you’re not sure if you want to walk that far.

Do you:

A.) Cross the street without the crosswalk

B.) Call Ms. Martha your school crossing guard

C.) Walk over to the next street

If you said C you’re right! Though, I’m sure Ms. Martha would have helped you. It’s important to put safety first. If you had chosen to cross without the crosswalk to save time, drivers wouldn’t expect you to be there, they may not stop.

Okay, last one on this great Halloween adventure... Dinos get bored, too. You remember that your earbuds are in your left pocket. You think about how much more fun this walk would be if you had some good tunes.

You think about it a little more and decide:

A) Yeah, why not. I think the new Taylor Swift album is out

B) Hmmm….maybe I should wait until later

C) I should just turn my phone on full blast so others can enjoy it too

If you picked C…..we can’t be friends. Just kidding. But yeah, choose B. We will have time later to listen to anything you want. You're walking around on a busy night in the dark dressed as a prehistoric creature, all while concentrating on the road. Add scrolling through a playlist, and there's no way it won't distract you and possibly cause you or others to get hurt. So save the tunes for later.

Well, that’s all for now.

Remember: Look left, right, and left again, when crossing the road. Cross at designated corners or crosswalks. Save the music for home. Have a spooky, but safe Halloween.

Rawr!

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For more info on pedestrian safety programs and more, check out sadd.org/programs.