Drivers need to pay attention at night

This past Halloween was supposed to be a time for trick-or-treaters to enjoy. A time where they could dress up like ghouls or goblins, fairies or princesses, and walk up and down the streets asking for candy.

It breaks my heart to say that for some, their night and their lives were cut short.

On Halloween night, there were three reported incidents across the country of nighttime drivers striking trick-or-treaters with their vehicles.

These three different incidents affected the lives of young children and their families because of carelessness.

In one case, a Minneapolis driver was responsible for hitting a 5-year-old boy. The young trick-or-treater was later pronounced dead.

Then, in Michigan, a 14-year-old girl was hit by two different vehicles and was pulled nearly a mile down the street. She is in critical condition.

Finally, a driver who might have suffered a stroke in New York was responsible for the deaths of people from two extended families. Among them was a 10-year-old girl and her grandfather.

The grandfather was killed on site, and the young girl was brought to the hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.

The fact that fatal accidents like this happened when some of them could have been avoided saddens me.

While it may have been hard to visually see the trick-or-treaters and is understandable, you would think on a night like this most drivers would be giving the streets their full attention.

Most of these tragedies occurred in big cities where various street lights are not uncommon.

So, what on Earth were two of these drivers doing that prevented them from seeing these children and their families?

Most likely it was distracted driving. This is something people in our country widely struggle with whether it be from texting or changing the radio station.

Participating in distracted driving at night is even worse.

When it gets dark out people tend to drive faster than their headlights and have impaired judgement.

While I understand the drivers of these accidents never had these horrendous intentions, at least two of them could have prevented these deaths from occuring.

These people will more than likely feel guilt due to these incidents for the rest of their lives, but hopefully they will help people realize they need to pay attention while driving.

Accidents are not as uncommon as we might think. We shouldn’t take that for granted.

We shouldn’t all think that we are perfect drivers and that we have an uninhibited power to multitask, especially at night.

The simple fact is nighttime drivers need to pay better attention to avoid preventable tragedies. If an accident occurs due to negligence, seeking advice from a car accident attorney can help navigate the legal process for fair compensation.