Verizon Offers Halloween Trick or Treat Safety Tips for Kids, Parents

Halloween is a time for tricks and scares, candy and costumes, friends and fun. But with all the creepy clown sightings around the Southeast over the past few weeks, parents are a little more concerned than usual.

Whether you are one of the eight in 10 parents who are fearful of your child’s safety during this enchanting holiday, or are worried about juvenile pranks and break-ins, Verizon’s Cornelius Miller shares some important information to keep your family safe on Halloween:

· Halloween is one of the deadliest nights for pedestrians. In fact twice as many children are hit by cars on Halloween than on an average day.

· Whether your child is trick or treating sans supervision or down the block with friends, stay connected at any moment with the GizmoPal and GizmoGadget both offer simple, two way communication between you and your kids without giving them a mobile phone or smart watch.

· Make sure to check out these safety apps from the App Store to help keep track of where the kids are at any given point in time, like the Family Locator to receive locations, arrival and departure updates, and MamaBear, the ultimate parenting app that monitors social media and text history, shares locations and receives speed alerts to know when your kids are in a vehicle

Miller also shares some statistics to think about:

· Criminal activity tends to increase on Halloween, and some areas see crime increase by 50% on Oct. 31

· Twice as many children are hit by cars on Halloween than on an average day; deadliest night for pedestrians

· 41.2 million trick-or-treaters during 2015

· 64% of Americans planned to celebrate the holiday in 2015

· Only 1/3 of parents talk to their children about safety on Halloween Night

· 12% of children 5 and under are permitted to trick-or treat alone

· 77% of parents report feeling fearful around Halloween. Reasons include:

o Being hit by a car: 31%

o Poisoning from tampered treats – 24%

o Abductions – 15%