It’s almost Halloween, which means you’re probably busy preparing for all the eager trick or treaters to visit your home or getting ready to take part in various other Halloween festivities. Unfortunately, most people forget that overall pedestrian traffic increases dramatically in the days leading up to Halloween, and since Halloween activities often take place in the afternoon, it’s especially important for drivers to be on high alert for pedestrian safety. Toyota of Plano has a few simple driving tips to follow to reduce pedestrian risk and ensure that everyone has a happy and safe Halloween.
Toyota has publicly announced that they spend over $1 million dollars on safety development and research, every hour. This has allowed Toyota to ensure their vehicles are equipped with the best safety features on the market. For this reason, we encourage you to take advantage of your car's Toyota Safety Sense features.
This technology drastically improves pedestrian safety, with features like pre-collision with pedestrian detection, lane tracing assist, lane departure alert, and road sign assist. If you haven’t or know someone who hasn’t upgraded to newer tech and safety features, now more than ever it’s time to think about upgrading your car to ensure that your loved ones stay safe.
If you have not had a chance to do this, we have come up with a list of additional safety precautions to keep yourself and others safe during this holiday.
You can start by driving with your lights on. Even if it’s not dark yet, you’ll be seen more easily with headlights on. We also encourage you to lower your radio volume or turn it off completely and avoid any and all distractions. Do not talk on the phone while you’re driving. If you must check voice messages or texts, simply pull over.
In residential areas, drive slower than posted speed limits. Drive at least 5 mph below the posted speed limit. Kids aren’t paying attention to traffic and may dart into the street or cross between parked cars.
Do not pass cars stopped in the street, they may be waiting on children to return to the vehicle. If you must pass, watch for kids near the vehicle, and then slowly move around. Always yield to pedestrians. If you see one child, there may be more that you can’t see.
When you drop kids off at the curb, use your hazard lights to increase additional visibility.
It’s best to park in a spot where you won’t have to back up. But if you must, exit and enter driveways slowly. Even with a car’s signals on, kids can be unaware of the driver’s intentions and aren’t good at judging what drivers will do.
Drunken-driving incidents increase on Halloween. If you go to a Halloween party, designate a sober driver or take an Uber if you’ve been drinking. If you see a drunk driver on the road, alert law enforcement this could save their life or others.
Visit Toyota of Plano today and learn more about the standard Toyota Safety Features available on our selection of new and pre-owned Toyota models.
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