Nearly one-in-three Americans are expected to hit the road this holiday weekend. Travel experts believe this could be one of the busiest travel holiday ever.
Roughly 100 million Americans are expected to travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays this year. That's more than double the number of people who made trips during the Thanksgiving weekend, last month, and at least 90 percent of those traveling will do so by car.
Don Redman is with the travel-firm Triple-A. He says this is the largest number of motorists hitting the road ever.
"We're going to be adding about 15million more people this year than in 2008 or 2009," says Redman. Gas Prices alone don't get people out and traveling, but the state of the economy, people feel better about it, feel better about their positions right now. There's no doubt that the cheaper gas prices we've seen all year long has really helped the family in their budget."
Redmond advises motorists to check their vehicles ahead of time and to plan ahead allowing plenty of time to account for traffic and poor weather.
In addition, Mississippi law enforcement will step up patrols enforcing the speed limit, the use of seatbelts and child restraints.
Captain Johnny Poulos says its up to every motorist to drive safely to ensure that everyone has a happy holiday.
"We have a responsibility not only to our families, but we also have a responsibility to other families that are going to be traveling the roadways," Poulus says. "For them to be able to make it safely. Here again, good responsible decisions."
During the Holidays last year, the highway patrol investigated 148 vehicle crashes.
