Halloween has been celebrated with costume parties and trick-or-treating for generations. But now, the National Halloween and Costume Association has started a petition to move the date to the last Saturday of October.

"I think that's a terrible idea. It's not Halloween anymore. It would be like moving Christmas to a different day. It's just not a good idea. I think trick-or-treating needs to be on Halloween," says Rachel Sherid of Boardman.

"I think if it's a good idea because of the fact of the safety and the fact that there's not a whole lot going on at the same time," says Linda Horkey of Youngstown.

The change.org petition has over 150,000 signatures, and now  autoinsurance.org, a private and independent organization, has analyzed 24 years of fatal crash data on October 31st compared to the last Saturday of October over that period.

"After seeing this data and seeing the spike in pedestrian fatalities, the spike in fatalities for children who are out there after 4 p.m. and are 17 years or younger, I just thought we have to tell people," explains Joshua Barnes, Director of Marketing for autoInsurance.org.

The findings of their study, which were done independently from the National Halloween and Costume Association, was that over those 24 years, fatal crashes spiked when Halloween or trick-or-treat times fell on a weeknight, weekday, or even on a Friday.

"Our hope is that maybe some political figures or leaders of municipalities would give this a chance for a pilot program in the next couple of years to see if making this change would have dramatic effects on their community," said Barnes.