Georgia State Patrol urges caution as Memorial Day weekend travel period begins

BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - The Memorial Day travel period began Thursday and will go on through Monday.

According to AAA, Thursday and Friday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the worst times to get on the road.

They say the best time to travel is Friday is before noon.

Georgia state troopers say they expect traffic to pick up Friday afternoon when most people get off work, and they’re urging everyone to stay alert on the road this holiday weekend.

They’ll have every available trooper on the roads over the three day weekend. AAA estimates 1.3 million Georgians will travel at least 50 miles during the holiday.

Troopers urge drivers to give themselves time to get where they’re going to avoid excess speeding or driving fatigued. They believe this holiday sees so much traffic because kids are just getting out of school and families are eager to get on the road.

“We see a general increase in traffic because everybody’s getting ready for summer. We always try to amp up efforts around the holidays, but especially around Memorial Day weekend because there’s an increase in traffic,” said SGT Richard Sikes with Georgia State Patrol.

He says they’ll have extra staff on the roads all the way into the early hours Tuesday morning.

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