Records might only date back to 2001, but AAA is projecting the holiday travel volume to be the highest it’s ever tracked, with 98.6 million Americans journeying at least 50 miles away.
That’s up 4 percent from the 94.8 million people leaving home last year between Dec. 23 and Jan. 4.
A vast majority of those drivers — 91 percent, actually — will take to the road, also up more than 4 percent from last year. Air travel is growing a little bit, too, up 1 percent to 5.7 million. Helping all of that is the fact that gas is at its lowest point since 2008, when regular unleaded ran just $1.65 per gallon.
Florida will have a good chunk of those travelers — nearly 5 percent of the national total — with 4.6 million taking cars, 270,000 traveling by air, and a little less than 200,000 finding another way to travel. Although hotel and car rental rates are up nearly 5 percent, airfares have fallen 7 percent.
“This year, more Americans will join friends and family to celebrate the holidays and ring in the New Year than ever before,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said, in a release. “Continued growth in consumer confidence and disposable income, an extended holiday period, and low gas prices should drive expected travel volumes to the highest level we have ever seen during the year-end holidays.”
Gas prices have dropped significantly in the past year. On New Year’s Day in 2014, for example, gas averaged $3.32 nationally. Today, it’s $2.55 — down 68 cents.
“Gas prices should continue falling through the rest of the year,” Jenkins said. “Prices are dropping at around 1 to 2 cents a day.”
With so many people on the road this holiday, AAA is asking drivers to be extra diligent looking for and avoiding impaired drivers. In fact, 1-in-8 drivers who drink at least occasionally reported having driven when they thought their alcohol level was at or above the legal limit, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
That same survey also revealed that 91 percent of drivers consider impaired driving to be unacceptable, with 42 percent reporting that drunk drivers are a bigger problem today compared to three years ago.
“Despite the ubiquitous warnings about drinking and driving, especially during the holiday season, an average of one alcohol-impaired driving death occurs every 45 minutes,” Jenkins said.
