JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The holiday travel rush is here.
AAA expects 115 million drivers will hit the road over the next 10 days.
The auto club is encouraging drivers to either leave earlier or consider traveling on days that are predicted to not have as much traffic.
Saturday is one of three days AAA believes will be the worst days to drive. A few people on road trips told News4JAX their mission was to avoid those bad times on the road.
Danny Gore spoke with us while taking a break from a 13-hour drive from South Carolina to Florida for a Christmas Tree Drag Race in Bradenton.
“My first thought was to get down there and see the beaches. I have never been to Florida before, so I was like, ‘Why not go down early and beat the traffic? Travel through the night.’ I have my wife with me and we are just having a great time,” Gore said. “So far it has been very pleasant, very light traffic.”
According to AAA, the busiest days will be Saturday, Thursday next week and Dec. 30.
Drivers can expect to experience travel times that are 20% longer than usual.
AAA says the worst times to drive Saturday are anywhere between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
AAA says the next 10 days are slated to see the second-highest number of drivers since 2000. The most the agency has recorded was 119 million drivers during the same travel period in 2019.
As a reminder, AAA’s Tow to Go program starts tonight at 6 p.m. and runs through Jan. 2. It is a free towing system where a driver’s car can be towed to a safe location within a 10-mile radius if that driver is impaired. It should be used as a last resort, AAA says, encouraging everyone to plan ahead if they’re drinking.
AAA also said it expects to help nearly a million drivers with car trouble over the holidays. The auto club suggests taking a walk around your car and checking for issues before you hit the road to avoid getting stranded.