AAA says record number of Americans traveling Memorial Day weekend
UPDATE 5/24/2018 5:15 p.m.: 41.5 million Americans are traveling this Memorial Day weekend, nearly five percent more than last year. That includes 5.2 million Californians.
“Which is actually an all-time record,” said Michael Blasky with AAA Northern California. “We have seen these numbers or even numbers that come close to it since 2005.”
You can thank strong consumer confidence for that.
AAA said not only will there be more cars on the road, but it will cost more to get anywhere. The national average is just below $3, but California drivers are paying about $3.70 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
High gas prices aren’t deterring some drivers. Steve Thompson is driving from Paso Robles to Sonoma County, making a quick stop in Salinas.
“Well this is cheaper than it is in Paso, about 30-cents cheaper here that’s why I stopped here,” Thompson said.
The heaviest traffic is expected Thursday and Friday evening and Monday afternoon. That’s also when the California Highway Patrol said the most accidents happen.
With more cars on the road, there will be more law enforcement. CHP said there will be officers out looking for drunk or drugged drivers. Officers are also doing a “max enforcement” crackdown, bringing in all available officers to focus on people using their seat belts.
Statewide, 45 people died during last year’s Memorial Day Weekend, 70-percent of those people weren’t wearing seat belts.
“I know that there’s a misconception that if you’re in the backseat you’re safer, but that’s not true,” said CHP Officer Oscar Loza. “You can be just as injured whether you’re in the front or the back, you can be ejected from the vehicle. So whether you’re in your personal car, you’re in an Uber or a taxi, we want everybody to get their seatbelts on because Ubers and taxis aren’t exempt from crashes.”
ORIGINAL POST: A near record number of Americans are traveling this Memorial Day weekend. In fact, many are hitting the highways as you’re reading this.
41.5 million Americans are kicking off the unofficial start to summer with a getaway. Of that, more than 5 million here in California.
AAA says these are numbers they haven’t seen since 2005 and it’s a sign of consumer confidence. High gas prices aren’t deterring people either. While the national average is tinkering just below $3, many of us are paying about $3.70 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
AAA is working with analytics company Inrix to track transportation trends — they believe the worst times to travel are Thursday and Friday evenings and Monday afternoon because that’s when holiday travelers mix with commuters. According to the Monterey area California Highway Patrol, the most crashes happen between that time.
“A lot of folks will actually be traveling south to southern California. Anaheim is always one of the most popular destinations for this weekend as it starts to get a little bit warmer and families start to head out to Disneyland. Again BottleRock is supposed to be a very packed event this year, they’ve got Bruno Mars and a couple of other big headliners. Tahoe is not much a Memorial Day holiday as much as it is a July 4th, Labor Day weekend holiday, it’s still a little bit colder for lake fun,” said AAA Michael Blasky.
KION’s Mariana Hicks has the full story at 5 and 6 p.m.
