Aixa Diaz, with AAA, joins AccuWeather to discuss how how you can best keep your family safe on the road amid busy holiday travel conditions.
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00:00AAA is projecting that more than 119 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles this
00:07holiday season.
00:08Yeah.
00:09If anyone knows about driving in fog, right, AAA?
00:10With record-breaking numbers of drivers on the road, AAA spokesperson Aishka Deyes is
00:15here with us with some tips of making your trip safe.
00:19Can you start with some of the best times to drive and do the same rush hour hours apply
00:24during the holidays?
00:26Hi there, Ariella and Bernie.
00:28So the thing with the year-end holiday period is that it begins this weekend.
00:33So the 21st and 22nd of December, and it continues through the end of the year.
00:37So many people have a different mix of days off.
00:41Some people are still waiting for their kids to get out of school.
00:45So in terms of during the week, yes, you're still going to have rush hour for people who
00:50are not off the days surrounding the holiday.
00:53So for example, this week, even next week, when you have the 23rd, Christmas Eve, those
00:58are still work days for many people.
00:59So you want to avoid those rush hour time periods if you're hitting the road and traveling
01:04over the holiday.
01:05Christmas Day itself should be a little bit quieter on the roads, but the 26th picks back
01:09up again.
01:10We do expect the two weekends, the weekend before Christmas and the weekend after to
01:13also be very busy on the roads.
01:15So you want to leave as early as possible.
01:17The more you delay your departure during the day, the more congestion builds on the interstates.
01:22Now during these busy times on the roads, what are some of the reminders to keep in
01:28mind to stay safe?
01:30Yeah, well, you know, one thing that we always watch here at AAA is drowsy driving because
01:35that is a problem and it's very dangerous on the roads.
01:38You may not think that you're tired.
01:39You may not think that you're sleepy, but especially if you have a long road trip ahead
01:43of you and you are one of those people, you want to pull an all nighter just to get to
01:46your destination or you want to drive 8, 10, 12 hours.
01:50Keep in mind that if you're driving during hours that you're not normally awake, let's
01:54say you're driving at night and maybe you go to bed at like 10 o'clock and now it's
01:5711 p.m., midnight, you're going to naturally get tired.
02:01So leave in the morning, be alert, be refreshed behind the wheel and take breaks.
02:06If you have other drivers in the vehicle with you, switch every couple of hours, every 100
02:10miles.
02:11If you can, if you're driving solo or you've got kids in the car, pull over to a rest area,
02:16somewhere safe, a location where you can park, drink a little water, use the restroom
02:21and just take a little rest.
02:22Even a 20 minute nap, if you are in a safe location and you can do that, will make you
02:27a little bit more refreshed behind the wheel because ultimately you want to get to your
02:31destination safely.
02:32Excellent.
02:33So perfectly said.
02:34It's like you've done this before.
02:35All right.
02:36How are gas prices this holiday season?
02:39Are there usually kind of price changes between Saturday and then as we make our way into
02:42the new year?
02:44So typically gas prices do come down this time of year regardless of what year it is
02:49because it's winter, fewer people drive over the winter compared to the summer driving
02:53season.
02:54So you see gas demand go down this time of year.
02:57Also you've got more people working remotely now post pandemic, so fewer people are driving
03:00to the office and a lot of people are doing their holiday shopping online, so not driving
03:03as much.
03:04That brings the price of gas down.
03:06The national average is still not quite at $3 a gallon.
03:09We're at $3.03 this morning.
03:11It's been fluctuating, getting really close to $3, not quite there yet, but most drivers
03:15across the country are already paying under $3.
03:17We just haven't seen the national average go there yet, but we haven't seen gas prices
03:21this low in about three years.
03:23So we're definitely paying less than we were last holiday season, and we can't project
03:27what they'll do over the next couple of weeks because gas prices are affected by so many
03:31different factors, but we do at least, we don't anticipate them going up much more.
03:37All right, Aixa Diaz, AAA spokesperson, thanks for the great information, and I hope you
03:44and your family, we both hope that you and your family have a great holiday season.
03:49Happy holidays.