Missouri braces for record-breaking Memorial Day weekend travel

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest travel periods of the year, but this year AAA says it will be "record-breaking".

"This Memorial Day weekend is expected to be the second-busiest travel period that we've seen on record ... It's also expected to set a record number of road trips over the course of the Memorial holiday," said Nick Chabarria, a spokesperson for AAA.

Between Thursday and Memorial Day, AAA projects 43.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home, with 38.4 million people traveling by car. This year’s total number of travelers is a 4% increase from last year, according to a press release from AAA.

Despite gas prices sitting at a statewide average of $3.20, with no decrease in sight, Chabarria says the elevated gas prices have not historically impacted people's desire to travel.

"Even when people perceive gas prices as being high, they'll find ways to save and make cuts during their everyday trips rather than changing or canceling their leisure travel altogether," Chabarria said.

Not only is Memorial Day weekend one of the busiest travel weekends, it's also one of the most dangerous. Sgt. Kyle Green with the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Troop F, says the highway patrol plans to combat the holiday dangers through Operation C.A.R.E, or Crash Awareness Reduction Efforts.

"The overall goal is for people to know we are there ... making sure everybody's buckled up, staying off the cell phone, making sure they've got a designated driver if they have been drinking ... it's imperative that we do what we can to try to reduce these traffic crashes," Green said.

Green also said Troop F will use the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to inform people of road and highway closures, traffic incidents, lake incidents and how long a closure or traffic jam may last.

The Highway Patrol's Memorial Day counting period begins at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 11:59 p.m. Monday.

During the 2023 Memorial Day weekend, Troop F counted 13 deaths and 403 injuries across 990 traffic crashes around the state.

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