WASHINGTON — Four out of 10聽people in the D.C. metro area plan to leave town for the Christmas and New Year鈥檚 holidays.
聽projects聽nearly 91 percent of people traveling 50 miles or more will be on the road.聽This year is the highest travel volume recorded for the Christmastide season in the Washington metro area, the travel company reports.
“We’re going to have a major exodus, the likes of which we have never seen before,” says Lon Anderson of AAA Mid-Atlantic. Holiday travelers taking advantage of cheap gas (the national average price of gasoline is at the lowest level in five years) are expected to clog major highways everywhere.
“It’s going to take longer to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ if you’re driving especially,” Anderson says.
Drivers who begin聽journeys at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve聽can expect to sit in traffic. “Traveling at the odd times would be better — leaving very early or very late,” he says.
Anderson wants drivers to聽respect how it can be to聽drive while drowsy.
“Please, please if you begin to feel tired or weary聽聽 about it,” Anderson says.
He recommends pulling off the road, getting some caffeine, jogging around the parking lot of a rest area or taking a brief nap.
“It’s not how fast you get there — it’s getting there safely,” Anderson warns.
A pre-trip should include making sure your vehicle has good windshield wipers and good tires, and that all of the lights are working.聽And just in case a vehicle does blow a tire or breaks down, Anderson recommends prudent packing.
“If you have聽聽in the way you pack, you might want to assure you have access to a spare tire and that kind of thing.”
Anderson says AAA schedules extra crews over the holidays to offer roadside assistance. The most common calls are for flat tires, dead batteries and lockouts.
Air travel is expected to remain steady at the region’s three international airports, and those traveling by air will be doing so at lower fares, compared to last year, AAA reports.
The average lowest round-trip from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas is $206 compared to $263 last year; the average lowest round-trip from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. is $106 compared to $234 last year.
贵辞濒濒辞飞听@草莓传媒听辞苍 补苍诲听草莓传媒 on .
