Be Safe On Your Ride Home After Thanksgiving Weekend

If you braved the highways for this Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends, you now may be girding yourself for the return trip home. If the roads seemed especially chaotic this year, it wasn’t just you.

AAA reported that this would be the busiest Thanksgiving on record in 13 years. The roads, airports and train stations saw about a 5 percent increase from 2017. In fact, this upcoming Sunday will be the busiest day to fly in 2018.

Roughly 54 million people planned to travel over 50 miles this year to their Thanksgiving destinations, which works out to approximately 2.5 million more travelers.

Most of that travel will be on the roads, as nearly 50 million planned to drive or ride with others. Of course, the 4.27 million flying will, at some point, also be using ground transport to get themselves to and from the airports.

There are several reasons for the uptick in travelers. According to the AAA, it’s because after adjustments for inflation, plane tickets are cheaper than ever. AAA’s senior vice president posits that the increase is related to “higher wages, more disposable income and rising levels of household wealth.”

All of this increased travel puts many Americans at risk of getting into an auto accident on the busiest travel holiday of the year. To stay safer, you may want to employ these tips:

• Leave in plenty of time to arrive safely. Expect traffic jams and detours and plan accordingly.
• Drive sober. Never drive after drinking alcohol or ride with those who do.
• Consider alternate routes home. This is one of those occasions where the road less traveled may actually be faster.

If you wind up injured in an accident due to another driver’s negligence, filing a claim for damages is the first step to getting you the compensation that you deserve.