HALLOWEEN 2021 - "THE AGE OF COVID"

Do you think Halloween is just about kids and Candy? Did you know kids are twice as likely to be hit by a car during Halloween? Will you remember to dress your kids with reflectors and to carry a flash light? Will you dress your kid in light colored clothes and not black?

Most people don’t realize other things happen on “All Hallows Eve”? Sure we all grew up Trick or Treating and bringing back bags of candy, but that is not all that happens on Halloween. Danger lurks and it is not just COVID.

What happens if you allow your kids to enter a house? I remember some homes invited the kids in for the candy. Often, the adults would be drinking and wanting a trick before we got a treat. Beware, and watch your kids! This is a different world from the one many of us, of a certain age, grew up.

I remember as a kid mapping out the route, so that we could go around the blocks in an organized fashion, and unload our bags as we passed our home. I would drop off a bag, empty it and hit the next set of blocks. Growing up in Toluca Lake we would always arrange to hit Bob Hope’s home first …and then again at the end of the evening. It was safer than most areas in those days.

Bob Hope’s butler initially came to the door with a sterling silver tray of Silver Dollars. Later, Chocolate Eclairs were on the tray when silver dollars went out of circulation. It was the one “treat” that never made it into the bag. It disappeared before we got to the sidewalk. But times have changed. Today, would you let your kids eat treats that were unwrapped? Of course not! And what about COVID 19?

The one thing that has not changed, is that people normally use the evening as an “excuse to party and drink”, but probably not so much this year. People were often drunk when they left, and they were an accident or a DUI “waiting to happen”. With all the kids running/darting into the streets, it is also more likely to be a very serious accident.

We are more aware today, and often take Uber or Lyft. However, here in the greater Palm Springs community, we have more DUI fatalities than anywhere else in California…Per Capita!

So, if you are driving home after drinking, and hit a kid, there are two things that may cause you to need a lawyer. If you get arrested for a DUI or are injured in an accident, you should hire a lawyer.

In both instances you ask the question, “who do I hire to help me that will be both competent and honest… and who has the experience to do a good job for me.” For years I had a talk show entitled “Accidentally Yours” that addressed that question.

On each show I would suggest that “people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan”. The last thing you want is to have to make a major decision like that, under pressure. Thus I told them and tell the readers of this weekly legal column…Plan Now! Decide now who you would call if you or a friend were arrested for a DUI or if you or a loved one was in an accident.

We all keep the names and number of vendors to assist us in case of an emergency…a plumber, an electrician etc. Why not add to that list the lawyer you would call so you can make an intelligent decision now, and not when you’re pressured!

In both instances the best thing you can do is to Keep Silent. Silence is Golden and Handcuffs are Silver when it comes to interrogation on a DUI or questions by an insurance adjuster for an Accident case. You want to talk to your lawyer first and to stay OFF of Facebook and SOCIAL MEDIA. Social media has made it very easy for police investigators and insurance adjusters to learn about YOU. It is not always what you say…but rather what the police or insurance adjuster THOUGHT s/he heard you say.

If you have been in an accident and tell the doctor you hurt everywhere and can’t do anything, then you certainly do not want the wrong person to see you talking about playing golf or tennis. Likewise you do not want the wrong person to read your comments about the accident or your impaired driving.

So, the Moral of the story is… DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE, CALL A TAXI OR UBER………IT IS A LOT CHEAPER THAN HAVING AN ACCIDENT OR DUI AND CALLING ME ………SO DRIVE SOBER OR GET PULLED OVER DURING HALLOWEEN.