On Halloween, we have scheduled crossing guards to cover the intersections of Broad Avenue/Fort Lee Road, Glenwood Avenue/Fort Lee Road, Grand Avenue/Fort Lee Road, Broad Avenue/Hillside Avenue, Broad Avenue/Christie Heights Street, Broad Avenue/Crescent Avenue and Broad Avenue/Magnolia Place from 4:00-7:00pm. We will also have extra officers on patrol until 7pm.
If your children will be trick-or-treating without adult supervision, please instruct them to use the intersections that will be staffed with crossing guards. If they need to cross the road where there is no crossing guard stationed, it is important that they do so at an intersection and if possible at an intersection that has a painted crosswalk. If your child has a cellphone, please make sure it is fully charged before they go out and they know where they are in town in the event the need to call us.
Sunset for Halloween is 5:56pm. We are requesting that all trick-or- treating be completed by sundown. The reason we make this request is because research has shown that the deadliest day of the year for child pedestrian accidents is Halloween.
The State Farm Insurance Company teamed up with research expert Bert Sperling to better understand the risks kids face as they take to the streets on Halloween.
The detailed analysis revealed the following:
115 child pedestrian accidents occurred on Halloween over the 21 years of analysis. That is an average of 5.5 fatalities each year on October 31, which is more than double the average of 2.6 fatalities for other days.
The "deadliest hour" for pedestrian fatalities on Halloween occurred from 6:00-7:00pm (26 out of 115). Over 60% occurred in the 4-hour period from 5:00-9:00pm.
Over 70% of the accidents occurred away from an intersection or crosswalk.
Most of the fatalities occurred with children ages 12-15 (32% of all fatalities), followed by children ages 5-8 (23%).
While there will be no one in the police building to hand out treats, our officers on patrol will be handing out treats.
Tom Rowe
Leonia Police
