AAA expects 4th of July travel to be one for the record books

FILE – A traveler pulls his dog in a wheeled carrier at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — We’re just days away from one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Leaders with AAA expect 2024 to be one for the record books.

With the summer travel season well underway, despite the calendar saying it’s only just begun, AAA expects a record-setting 71 million people nationwide to travel at least 50 miles to celebrate our nation’s birthday.

“The 4th of July is always a huge summer travel season as people get out either to take a vacation or to go see family and friends and enjoy the holiday,” said Lori Weaver Hawkins, public affairs manager with AAA Bluegrass.

After a 5% increase from last year in nationwide travelers, Kentuckians will make up just over 800,000 of those travelers and, if you’re planning to drive, be warned that you’ll be sharing the road with more than 90% of those people, so be careful on busy roads and pack your patience for the drive.

“I always tell people leave out early so you don’t feel like you’re running late, and you get frustrated when you end up in a traffic jam. And then also there are more distractions, usually when you’re on a road trip, than your daily drive around town and your daily commute. So, you might have more people in the vehicle; you might have more distractions with new sights that, you know, if you’re on a road trip, all of those things and of course the traffic itself,” Hawkins said.

AAA is also warning flyers that just because most people will be on the roads, doesn’t mean you should relax in your preparation.

“We’re expecting that nationwide it’s going to be record levels for air travel as well and so instead of getting to the Bluegrass Airport, now or ahead of time, 2 hours is more what you want to really shoot for. We want to make sure people get on the road early as well, because sometimes when people are running late, they tend to get more frustrated and that leads to aggressive driving behaviors, which puts others and yourself in danger,” Hawkins added.

She said the most important thing is to get to your destination safely. Make sure to slow down and leave plenty of room on the roads and if you’re flying, make sure you have all of your travel documents before you leave for the airport.

Last year, there were nearly 20 fatalities from June 29 to July 7 on Kentucky roadways.

“So, it is a higher incidence of crashes just because we’ve got sheer numbers out there, more vehicles on the road than we would on a normal weekday or even weekend—then we see more traffic, we tend to see more crashes and you also have people coming from other areas. They’re not as familiar with the area and that can also increase the chance and likelihood that there might be a crash incident occur,” Hawkins said.

AAA expects July 3 and July 7 to be the busiest days for travelers.