SOUTHERN COLORADO — As restrictions continue to lift across Colorado and the rest of the country more people are taking road trips.
Even though air travel is way down AAA Colorado is still forecasting that Americans are going to take 700 million trips this summer and that 97% of those trips will be done by car.
Skyler McKinley with AAA Colorado said, "It's the summer of the road trip and the renaissance of the personal automobile."
After months of being at home Coloradans are getting out and hitting the road.
Dinah Campbell, a resident of Falcon, said, "We went to the Sand Dunes...it was kind of a last-minute thing."
It's a trend AAA is seeing this summer.
Victoria Rodriquez of Colorado Springs said, "Yesterday - it was an impromptu trip...we drove to South Dakota Saturday morning and drove back last night."
Knowing that it's going to be a big year for road trips Rodriquez shared that she has some concerns. She said, "Traffic, planning ahead is a big problem."
News 5 asked McKinley about this. He said, "The good news is because of the pandemic generally traffic's going to be down. We're not going to see the congestion that we saw say this time last summer."
The bad news is that "folks might have forgotten how to drive a little bit," said McKinley. "Folks have been going way over the speed limit...not using blinkers, basically forgetting how to drive...now's a good time to remind yourself hey, I shouldn't be looking at my phone while I'm driving...I can never run a red. I shouldn't be speeding."
They're simple rules that will help you and everyone else on the road get to those summer destinations in one piece.
Besides following the rules of the road McKinley also suggests checking your tires and making sure you've got good pressure and tread. Also - check your battery before you start your journey.
