About 1 in 10 Kentuckians expected to travel for Memorial Day

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Memorial Day marks the kick-off to the summer travel season.

According to AAA, roughly 42 million people nationwide are expected to travel between Thursday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend. Among those, AAA Bluegrass expects more than 530,000 Kentuckians to head out for Memorial Day weekend, which is almost 12% of the commonwealth’s population.

“Don’t drive distracted and also don’t drive impaired,” said Lori Weaver Hawkins, AAA Bluegrass. “Those are big issues that we have when folks are traveling or we have a holiday.”

One issue Weaver Hawkins says drivers shouldn’t have this Memorial Day and throughout the summer is paying too much at the pump.

“Hotels are more expensive and flights are about 40% higher than we saw last memorial day. So, people are paying more for other things on their trip, but gas shouldn’t be one of them,” Weaver Hawkins said.

Weaver Hawkins says they consider “travel” as going at least 50 miles away from your home.

AAA also encourages people to stay up to date on their car’s routine maintenance year-round, but before a trip, there are a few things you should check.

First, make sure that your spare tire is safe for you to drive on in case of an emergency. They say flat tires are one of the most common calls they respond to on the interstate.

Then, check your fluids and, when it’s especially hot out, stay vigilant of your battery so that it’s not overheating.

They may have made it through the wintertime when it was cold, but if they’re on their last leg they’ll start to swell with the heat,” said Weaver Hawkins. “Batteries can explode, and they can do quite a bit of damage.”

Seth Pierce with AAA Bluegrass says on an average Monday they respond to more than 100 roadside calls. This means on holidays that call volume goes up. He says while they’re helping people they ask that you help them by slowing down and moving over.

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