Pennsylvania State Police ready to step up patrols for Labor Day travel

GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- Labor Day weekend is known as the last hoorah of summer, so why ruin a perfectly good weekend with a citation from the state police?

Trooper Steve Limani says that across the commonwealth, the state police will be out in force this weekend and will likely issue thousands of tickets.

"We are really just out there to deter people and to make sure they are doing a good job when it comes to driving and making good decisions," Limani said.

Limani also said that the keys to safe driving during a busy holiday weekend are leaving extra time for travel, providing some additional following distance to the car in front of you and above all, staying off your phones and other devices when behind the wheel.

"We are a safety organization," said Limani. "We believe in trying to keep everybody safe, so it is our job to be out there and be visible, be proactive and try and maintain everybody traveling in a safe manner. And sometimes you don't even know what crash you might have prevented because they just saw you along the side of the road and decided to slow down."

Tiffany Stanley of AAA agrees that this weekend will be busy. She says that they are still seeing pent-up demand for travel from the pandemic.

AAA is reporting that air travel is up some 9% from Labor Day 2023 and she says the roads will be packed this weekend, partially due to the fact that gas prices are cheaper compared to this time last year.

Stanley says patience is the best friend to travelers at this time of year.

"Our biggest piece of advice is for people to hit the roads as early as possible," said Stanley. "And try to get to your destination by noon, and that way you avoid that afternoon traffic."

And even though most of us think of Labor Weekend as Saturday, Sunday and Monday, AAA says that traffic will start picking up Thursday afternoon and likely will not dissipate until early Tuesday morning.