BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — By 10:00 pm, most Halloween celebrations involving children will have come to a close, but many adults will likely just be getting started on their night. Detective Marc Lugo with the Bakersfield Police Department reminds anyone planning to drink tonight to have a designated driver.
Lugo also says that residents should call BPD if they see any instances of impaired or distracted driving so police can respond.
“There’s not just impaired driving. There’s distracted driving when it comes to cell phones, and people are looking at the decorations, looking at the houses,” said Lugo. “I would absolutely recommend that people are just more aware of the drivers that might be distracted or impaired and watch out for their little ones on this night.”
BPD says drivers should slow down and watch out for those who are still out and about, and if possible, pedestrians should carry flashlights or glow sticks to make themselves more visible to traffic. Reflective tape or hi-vis vests are also options.
BPD says it will keep additional officers on duty overnight.
The roads get more dangerous on Halloween, not just in Kern County but around the country. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, between 2016 and 2020, 129 people in the United States were killed in DUI-related crashes on Halloween, 56 of them on Halloween of 2020 alone.
People between the ages of 21 and 34 had the highest percentage of deaths in those crashes, accounting for 68 percent of fatalities, and in 2020, 22 percent men involved in crashes were found to be intoxicated compared to 16 percent of women.
