Safe driving should be a priority over Labor Day
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on August 31, 2018 5:50 AM
Labor Day is fast approaching, and that means one thing -- one last opportunity for a summer vacation before the weather starts turning cooler.
According to AAA Carolinas, about 1.1 million North Carolinians will take to the road to travel more more than 50 miles from home over Labor Day, a 5 percent increase over last year. The vast majority of those travelers -- 941,000 of them, according to AAA -- will be driving to their destinations, making for crowded conditions along major roadways.
"For most vacationers, the Labor Day holiday is the last hoorah for summer vacations, as school ramps up and we start to see the season change" said Tiffany Wright, AAA Carolinas spokeswoman. "With gas prices pretty much even with what we saw last Labor Day, we don't expect this to prevent Carolinians from hitting the road."
Labor Day marks the end of the so-called "100 deadliest days," a period during summer when teen crashes increase substantially, according to AAA. More than 60 percent of those crashes are caused by distractions behind the wheel, which the AAA study showed correlated with a rise of social media use while driving.
"Practice safety behind the wheel. Don't drive distracted. Prepare for an influx of traffic on the roads," Wright said.
Last year during the Labor Day period, North Carolina crashes resulted in 1,839 injuries and 23 fatalities, the NC Department of Transportation reports.
The state has taken notice, resulting in the "Booze it and Lose it" campaign put in place by the Governor's Highway Safety program. The campaign will run until the end of Labor Day and involves increased patrols and law enforcement media outreach to try to curb drunken driving.
Under the campaign, those caught driving under the influence could face jail time, lose their driving privileges and pay an average of $10,000 in fines, towing fees and other expenses.
Of course, all of those travelers are going to need gas in order to get anywhere. When they reach the pumps, they can expect to find the highest Labor Day gas prices since 2014, according to AAA. North Carolina's average price is now $2.66 -- a 5 cent increase from last year's Labor Day price.
That price is still down substantially from 2014, when prices on Labor Day averaged $3.34. After dropping by more than a dollar in 2015, the price of gas has incrementally grown each year since.