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Study: Miami Is USA's Third Most Dangerous City To Trick-Or-Treat

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Massachusetts software company has found Miami to be the third most dangerous city in the US to go trick-or-treating this year behind Arlington, Texas, and Memphis, Tennesee.

Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) says it analyzed more than 850 thousand drives in the U.S. to uncover the most dangerous cities for trick-or-treaters this Halloween.

CMT says it used phone sensors to gather data about speeding, acceleration, hard braking, cornering, and smartphone distraction to arrive at their conclusions.

They analyzed raw data from smartphone sensors and optional wireless tag devices to produce best-in-class insights. "For the purposes of this study, CMT analyzed data from 856,962 trips on Halloween, 2018, and compared it to data of 7.5 million trips in October 2018 in North America."

Based on data pulled from October 31, 2018, they found that 39% of trips involved speeding, while 25% of drivers broke hard at least once. This means that speeding increased by an alarming 235% on Halloween, while hard braking increased 178%.

In order to avoid a tragedy, they offer these tips:

  • Drivers should slow down on the roads – especially in residential neighborhoods where trick or treaters may be crossing the street
  • Parents should supervise children under 12 years old and discuss safety best practices, such as keeping a flashlight handy, staying on sidewalks, looking both ways, and only trick-or-treating on agreed upon-route.
  • Trick-or-treaters should start early to avoid incidents.

On the other hand, CMT found these cities to be the safest for Halloweeners:

  • Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Long Beach, California
  • San Jose, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota
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