CHP: Prepare for slick and busy roadways ahead of Thanksgiving

The day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year and this year it could be worse with rain in the forecast.

The California Highway Patrol is preparing for more traffic and even messier roadways.

Corralitos Resident Terri Corman told KION she isn’t traveling this year, but people are coming to her.

“I have a son who is down in San Diego who is a doctor, who’s coming with his new puppy. We have a new puppy and an older German shepherd so it’s going to be really interesting,” said Terri Corman.

Corman said having three dogs in the house could get a little crazy, but she is more concerned about her son making the long drive on Wednesday.

“I’m very worried, yeah, but we need the rain. Thank god it’s coming for Butte County and we are dry around here so we need it desperately.”

More than five million drivers are expected to be traveling throughout the state, but the California Highway Patrol is ready for the traffic.

Officers will be on their maximum enforcement period through the weekend.

“You know when you haven’t had rain in a long time, you have a lot of oil build up on the roadway, and so our officers are anticipating it to be very busy. Unfortunately, a lot of those calls we are going to get tomorrow are going to be accidents,” said Officer Sam Courtney.

One way to stay safe on the roads is to make sure you have good tires.

Officers also have this advice for drivers in the rain.

“A good rule of thumb is the three second following distance. So as you are going down the highway and the car ahead of you passes a point, you could be able to count- one thousand one, one thousand two and one thousand three and that kind of gives you a distance between you and the car ahead of you,” said Officer Courtney.

Giving yourself a little extra time while traveling this holiday, could make things a lot smoother.