Well Heroes, Halloween is just a week away. Are your kids ready with costumes and safety practices? One of the things we do every year is check the boys’ candy before allowing them to have it. As it turns out, many experts agree evidence on tainted Halloween candy is lacking and should not be the top safety focus for parents. Instead, many public servants and safety organizations agree that lighting should be the important safety focus on Halloween night.

We’ve always been careful to watch the cars around us, but to be honest haven’t worried about it too very much because the boys only visit the homes in our little neighborhood and either Hubby or I are usually along with them. On very cold nights we drive them ourselves, so they’re only walking (who am I kidding? I meant running) up and down driveways.

According to Safe Kids Worldwide, children are more than twice as likely to be killed by a car while trick-or-treating on Halloween night than at any other time of the year. I had no idea.

Just like homes turn on porch lights to signal they are passing out Halloween candy, drivers can do their part providing light on a dark night. One of Safe Kids’ top Halloween safety tips is to help children see and be seen. There are several ways to do this and SYLVANIA Automotive Lighting wants to educate pedestrians and drivers that visibility is imperative to a safe Halloween night. For drivers, this means considering the status of their headlights. Premium headlights can provide more downroad and sideroad visibility – allowing for more time to react to pedestrians and road hazards.

Here are a few more safety tips for you to consider, courtesy of Sylvania:

• Decorate costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers and, if possible, choose light colored clothing.
• Have kids use glow sticks or flashlights to help them see and be seen by drivers.
• Be especially alert for kids during 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., the popular trick-or-treating hours.
• Upgrade to whiter, brighter premium headlights. Whiter, brighter bulbs, like SYLVANIA SilverStar® ULTRA headlights, can help drivers identify and react sooner to road hazards like debris, animals, disabled vehicles or even pedestrians, which are of especially high volume on Halloween night.
• Change headlight bulbs before burnout. Bulbs dim quicker than you think, drastically reducing visibility so you see less of what’s in front of you, so it’s important to upgrade before burnout. Always change headlight bulbs in pairs. Changing one at a time can cause an uneven field of vision that can be distracting to both the driver as well as oncoming traffic.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to stay safe on Halloween.

FTC Disclosure: The good folks representing Sylvania sent me this information and asked me to post it. It’s good information. Even if you don’t buy their headlights, please make sure yours are nice and bright. That’s a good idea for any night driving. No compensation was given to publish this information.