More People Traveling This Labor Day Weekend

By Scott Sarvay

September 2, 2010 Updated Sep 2, 2010 at 4:42 PM EST

UNDATED (Indiana's NewsCenter) - Indiana's highways and byways will see an increase in holiday traffic this Labor Day weekend.

Nearly 800,000 Hoosiers are expected to travel out of town.

That's an 11.3 percent increase over last year.

And nationally about 34 million Americans will hit the road, that’s up 10-percent from last year.

AAA says the average family will travel more than 50 miles in the automobiles the holiday.

AAA Chicago Field Manager Cheryle Stump says, “Make sure your drivers are well rested. Make sure you take frequent stops and just make sure that you be patient. If you can travel during non-peak hours through some of the major cities, that's going to be your best bet.”

Experts say travel is up because the economy is improving slightly.

But that also means gas prices on the rise, hovering around $2.70 a gallon.

To save money and improve gas mileage, AAA offers the following advice for drivers:
- Keep your tires properly inflated.
- Don’t use premium fuel if your car does not require it.
- Observe the speed limit.
- Avoid hard acceleration and drive defensively.
- Warming-up your car unnecessarily wastes fuel.- Travel light — loaded roof racks can decrease fuel economy by 5 percent.




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