Remember what Uncle Ben said

 By Barb Chamberlain

Spider-Man's Uncle Ben said it best: "With great power comes great responsibility."

That power lies in your hands and under your foot when you're behind the wheel.

We're coming up on the most pedestrian-friendly and kid-friendly date on the calendar: Halloween. Or at least it should be.

But research tells us the relative risk of a child 4-8 years old dying on Halloween because a driver struck them is 10 times higher than it is the rest of the year. The American College of Emergency Physicians says the biggest threat to trick or treaters is vehicles, not tainted candy or the other hazards parents may fear.

On Oct. 31 — and every night — if you drive it's up to you to make it safe for those outside your vehicle.

Halloween is this Tuesday and that means lots of trick-or-treaters so if you’re driving please be alert, slow down and be patient to make it a safe holiday for everyone. Kids can be unpredictable so drivers should always be prepared, alert and do their part to keep them safe.

Some of the factors for you as a driver that come together and determine whether you’re going to change — or end — someone’s life year-round, not just on Halloween:

• Vehicle size: You're operating a vehicle that likely weighs two tons or more . These bigger vehicles are deadlier to pedestrians on impact.
• What you can see: In an SUV or pickup truck you’re less likely to see pedestrians so you’re more likely to hit someone you don’t know is there. Test this: Have a friend or family member walk or roll around your parked vehicle and notice where they disappear. Repeat with a child.
• Your speed: The faster you drive, the less peripheral vision you have (the tunnel effect). This means you're more likely to miss seeing someone crossing the street ahead of you. This is true whether or not you’re in one of those vehicles with the bigger A-pillars that block your line of sight.
• And your speed again: The faster you're driving when you hit them, the greater the chance you'll seriously injure or kill them with that impact.

WalkSafe (a program at the KiDZ Neuroscience Center) and the National Safety Council provided some Halloween-specific tips to go along with our other reminders to drivers below. We've added a few reminders of Washington state law (and the laws of physics) and a couple of additional pointers.

• Reduce your speed to 20 miles per hour or less in neighborhoods whether you see children or not. Just because the sign says "SPEED LIMIT 30" doesn't mean you should drive 30 miles per hour, especially on a night when you should expect children to be out and about.
•   RCW 46.61.400 tells you not to drive "at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions" and "In every event speed shall be so controlled as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person no matter what the posted speed is."
•  If you want your neighborhood to have a posted speed of 20 mph, ask your city to consider using the Neighborhood Safe Streets Law in RCW 46.61.415 . They don't have to do an engineering study to lower the speed limit.
• A car traveling at 30 miles per hour travels about 100 feet in 2.3 seconds, the average reaction time for drivers.

• If you see a group of kids at or near the side of the road, slow your vehicle to walking speed and give plenty of room. Remember, excited kids will act like excited kids; parents may be overwhelmed.
• RCW 46.61.245 requires drivers to "exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and...exercise proper precaution upon observing any child..."
• That Spider-Man mask may make it hard for the child to see you.
• If they’re using a foot scooter they move faster than walking speed. They’ll come into and out of your view more quickly than you’re expecting.

• The nose of your car must stop behind the stop line at all intersections, whether you see a pedestrian or not. Never stop ahead of the line.
•   This refers to intersections with marked crosswalks and/or stop lines.
• Remember that under RCW 46.61.235 you must stop for pedestrians at both unmarked and marked crosswalks. Every intersection is a legal crossing unless crossing is officially prohibited under RCW 46.61.240 (which is a limited set of circumstances).

• It isn’t a “free” right on red. You need to pay, as in pay attention after you stop and before you turn.
• Especially important if you’re driving a larger vehicle that prevents you from seeing smaller people . Yes, we’re repeating ourselves because this is such a critical point.

• Be extra patient when letting trick-or-treaters cross the street. It can be a chore to keep a group of excited kids orderly, and a child may drop something while crossing. Stay stopped until the entire group has passed.
• Treat any neighborhood street with no sidewalks as if you were driving on the sidewalk. The street is this neighborhood's sidewalk.
  
  

• Treat driveways and alleys like intersections. Before you pull out, stop, look, and look again.
• Discourage new, inexperienced drivers from driving on Halloween.

Once we get past Halloween, daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 5. We head into the winter months with their darker, shorter days when statistics tell us more drivers hit more pedestrians than at other times of the year. The power to save people’s lives will still be in your hands and under your foot. Great responsibility, indeed.