7 Costume Tips for a Safer Holiday this Halloween in Houston
The Board Certified Houston personal injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC understand that at least half the fun of Halloween is putting together your costume. Halloween is one night a year when you can express your fun, weird, or dark side by wearing what you might never get away with on any other day. But some Halloween costumes have hidden dangers. For instance, swords and knives may look cool as costume accessories, but if those accessories have actual sharp points and edges, you risk injury if you trip and fall; are careless with the blade; or someone else decides to grab the blade and play with it.
A fair number of injuries in emergency rooms every October 31st are related directly or indirectly to costuming pitfalls. Our Board Certified Houston personal injury lawyers urge you to follow these 7 costume tips for a safer holiday this Halloween in Houston:
- Swords, knives, and other costume accessories should be made of soft, flexible materials. They should only look sharp and pointy.
- When you buy costumes, cloaks, fabrics, wigs, beards, masks, and other costume pieces, check forflame resistant materials like nylon or polyester. “Flame resistant” materials should resist burning and extinguish themselves quickly if they do catch fire straying across a lit candle or other fire source.
- Since traditional Halloween décor often involves lit candles and jack-o-lanterns with burning candles inside, choose a costume that minimizes the risk of accidentally catching fire. Avoid billowing skirts, trailing sleeves, hems, and cloaks, and flimsy materials that could catch fire easily.
- Choose properly fitting costumes that don’t drag the ground to avoid the danger of tripping and falling.
- Shoes should fit properly and be suitable for walking over poorly lit and uneven lawns, sidewalks, and pavements as you enjoy your Halloween evening. Those spectacular high heels that some costumes favor may lead to an early end to your fun as you sprain or break an ankle or other parts in a messy fall.
- Choose costumes that are bright or light in color, or add fluorescent markings or reflective tape to ensure that motorists can see you. Our Board Certified Houston personal injury lawyers caution that Halloween is one of the deadliest nights of the year for pedestrians. And the U.S. NHTSA says that over 50% of the accidents that occur on Halloween are alcohol-related. (Halloween is also one of the top three drinking nights of the year.) Children are 136% more likely to be seriously injured or killed as pedestrians on between 3 and 9 p.m. on Halloween than at any other time.
- Avoid blocking your vision with hats, scarves, or masks. Tie any hats or scarves securely to prevent them from slipping over the eyes. And make sure that your mask fits well and has sufficiently large eyeholes so that your range of vision isn’t blocked. You need to watch out for Halloween’s drunken motorists.
The Board Certified Houston personal injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC wish you a safe and happy Halloween this fall. Click the link to learn more about the problem of pedestrian accidents on Halloween, and the steps you could take to help prevent car accident injuries as you’re out enjoying your evening of Halloween parties and trick-or-treating.