AAA expects more driving, less flying for Thanksgiving

This weekend is the busiest weekend of the year for traveling. Tom Crosby with AAA Carolinas says 94 percent of travelers over the Thanksgiving weekend will be driving instead of flying.

More people are choosing to drive than fly. Now, that doesn’t mean that the airports are not going to be crowded. It just means that more people are getting behind the wheel of the car because of hassles of the airports are driving them to their vehicle instead of to the airport.

Some of that stems from the recent TSA security measures at airports involving digital scanners and pat down procedures. Crosby says the average South Carolina citizen says they will travel around 800 miles, meaning there will be travelers in all directions on the roads.

It’s always going to be crowded. We just tell you to prepare for it, don’t get frustrated by it. Add the extra time into your travel expectations that a way you won’t be so impatient behind the wheel or less likely to get in an accident.

Some travelers wait to leave later in the night so they don’t have to bother with the busy roads. Crosby says if you’re one of them, be careful.

The roads are definitely better, the only problem is whether or not you’re going to be sleepy. A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 41 percent of the people they surveyed admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel of the car. So, if you’re going to drive late at night, you’re going to go something till like 10 o’clock to two or three in the morning, or something like that, make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before because drowsy driving can sneak up on you and can be very dangerous.

Crosby says before someone makes a trip out-of-town, like always, he or she needs to make sure the normal maintenance procedures are done to the vehicle so that person is not stranded on the road.