AAA says Thursday is the busiest day of the year to travel, but that didn’t stop travelers in Medford.
“I said uh… Houston, we have a problem,” said holiday traveler Greg Bodenski, “we can’t see a thing, please guide us in!”
Bodenski knows all too well about holiday traveling.
“I swear one time I slid out and believed there was no ice on the road, [I] slid out, [and] hit a wall.”
Thursday is one of the biggest travel days of the year. 1.4 million travelers across Oregon will hit the roads and skies between now and New Year’s, thousands of them will be flying, like Bodenski.
“The fog on the way into Medford, I started making jokes about it, it was kind of scary looking out the window,” Bodenski.
But with the winter holidays, comes winter weather.
Something Oregon State Police Sergeant Jeff Proulx says travelers need to be aware of in the skies and on the streets.
“You know it’s like we say every year; be prepared, plan ahead, especially if you will be going over mountain passes,” said Proulx.
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 46 percent of all crashes involving bad weather take place in the winter, and Sgt. Proulx says to be prepared for anything mother nature might throw at you.
“Make sure that your vehicle is ready; we’ve said this, ODOT says this, other agencies always say this; make sure that your car is prepared, make sure that you have good tires on there, make sure you have a full tank of gas.”
So travelers can get to their holiday destinations on time, and in one piece.
“We’ve got our crews on 24/7 where they need to be,” said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Gary Leaming, “we’re ready for mother nature, whatever she throws at us.”
AAA says if you want to skip the lines and avoid heavy traffic, the easiest days to travel are Christmas eve and Christmas day.
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