Scary costumes could lead to a road accident, warn Cleveland Police
The scariest day of the year just got even scarier as Cleveland Police reveal the terrifying reality of road safety on Halloween.
Cleveland and Durham's Road policing unit are warning about Halloween road accidents, stating that dark and creepy costumes can lead to danger on the roads.
In fact, new stats say serious and slight injury collisions have been up to 400% higher on 31st October in recent years.
On Teesside there were 15 incidents on Halloween itself over the last 4 years and 19 in Durham.
Cleveland Police's Jamie Bell said: "We normally say wear something high-vis but that doesn't really fit in with the spirit of things for Halloween. They're excited, I remember being a kid myself for Halloween. You'll be trick or treating, knocking on doors and you might be running from one side of the street to another. They might not be thinking about traffic."
In order to help reduce the number of collisions, roads policing officers are reminding drivers to be more aware of young people who may be out trick or treating and may be in costumes which reduce visibility and are dark in colour.
Inspector Kevin Salter, from the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit, said: “Generally when the nights get darker and visibility is reduced, we do see more collisions. On 31st October we just want to ensure that drivers are aware that they need to be additionally vigilant due to children who may be out trick or treating, wearing dark clothing and that visibility could be reduced even further.
“We’d also ask parents to keep a close eye on their children whilst out trick or treating, we know it’s an exciting time for young ones and we want them to enjoy themselves.
"Children could perhaps make their way into the road without being fully aware of the vehicles around, because they’re excited or their visibility could be reduced by wearing costume masks. We want to avoid as many collisions as possible so that we can keep everyone as safe as we possibly can.”