Thursday expected to be busy day on the roads
DALLAS - If you're hitting the highways Thursday, be prepared to have many others join you. Dec. 28 is expected to be the busiest day for traveling on the roads, according to AAA.
It's a day when many people are typically heading home after visiting family and friends for the holidays.
According to MedStar, Dec. 28, throughout the years, is a very busy road day. Even when the weather is decent, they respond to around 35-38 crashes during a 24-hour period, which is about a 10-15 percent higher call volume for crashes than MedStar typically sees in its service area.
Because of this, they did ramp up staffing about 3-5 percent this week.
TxDOT in Dallas is also prepared for the surge in traffic. The department is working with law enforcement to have more patrols on the roadways to handle accidents.
One of the causes of accidents during this time is fatigue—with many people driving long-distances.
"When you're traveling a great distance, sometimes you get fatigue," said Matt Zavadsky, Chief Transformation Officer at MedStar. "Sometimes you become complacent with paying attention. Sometimes you get a little bit distracted. We think all of those factors lead to the high volume of crashes that we see around that 28th of December."
"Remember to be patient because a lot of people, if they're behind the wheel for a long time, they get tired, and they may not be quite paying attention to how slow or how fast they're going so just be cautious and make sure that you're paying attention to your surroundings and everyone around you," said Alice Rios, Public Information Officer at TxDOT.
These organizations urge you to make frequent stops, refresh and maybe switch drivers if you can to avoid some of that drowsiness.
If you are doing a road trip, MedStar advices you plan several stops, bring an emergency first aid kit, food with high protein, water and avoid areas with bad weather and plan a route to bypass those areas.
TxDOT said they will be updating on their social media road conditions throughout the day as more people hit the roads today.
