AAA: 38 Million Americans Expected To Travel For Memorial Day Weekend
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- You can expect plenty of company if you're traveling over the Memorial Day weekend.
AAA projects some 38 million people will travel 50 miles or more over the holiday weekend. That's about 700,000 more than last year and the most since 2005.
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The lowest gas prices in more than a decade could make this Memorial Day one of the busiest ever on the roads. The overwhelming majority of travelers -- 89 percent -- plan to go by car; while 2.6 million plan to go by plane -- up 1.6 percent.
The average price for a gallon of regular is $2.30 nationwide, about 34 cents less than a year ago, and AAA estimates that Americans have saved more than $15 billion on gas so far this year.
AAA also cites rising personal income and a strong labor market as factors encouraging Americans to head to the beaches, mountains and other destinations this Memorial Day weekend.
"People have more money in their pocket, they're more confident in their jobs, more secure that they'll have them and so they're spending money," AAA's Robert Sinclair, Jr. told WCBS 880's Sean Adams.
The trend in recent years has been an early getaway starting either Wednesday or Thursday, but Sinclair said that "overwhelmingly, the bulk of folks will leave after work on Friday."
But 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck ran into plenty of people at the Vince Lombardi service area on the New Jersey Turnpike Thursday morning getting a head start to their holiday weekend.
"We're going to show my sister our newborn baby of four months, celebrate our birthdays -- it's my birthday and my sister's birthday as well, then we're going to go see my brother in Maine," said Irwin, who was traveling from South Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, two kids and father-in-law.
Memorial Day Weekend Resources: Traffic | Forecast
Meanwhile, New York State Police said they will increase patrols to stop drunken driving and reckless motorists this holiday weekend.
The stepped-up police presence will begin Friday and last until Monday.
During the weekend last year New York State Police arrested 187 people for drunken driving and wrote more than 12,000 tickets for other traffic infractions.
Local police also participate in the effort. Last year they made 157 additional arrests for impaired driving.
Authorities said they will also be looking for motorists violating speed limits or distracted driving laws.
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