AAA is projecting a record-setting travel volume for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, across America and here in the Mount Rushmore State.
Here’s a quick look at some of the numbers, trends and tips from AAA:
- 269,360 – Number of South Dakotans who will travel 50 miles or more from home for the 2024 Thanksgiving holiday travel period (Nov. 26-Dec. 2), an increase of 2% from 2023.
o 90.4% – Percentage of South Dakota travelers who will drive to their Thanksgiving holiday destination. The 243,619 road trippers is a 1.4% increase from last year.
- 3 – Number of people who died in the 328 traffic crashes on South Dakota roads during the 2023 Thanksgiving holiday. Those crashes also resulted in 58 injuries. AAA urges drivers to slow down, avoid distracted and impaired driving, and have all people in the vehicle wear seatbelts.
- 79.9 million – Number of travelers nationwide AAA projects will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, a 2.1% increase compared to 2023 and 2.7% increase over 2019.
o 71.7 million – Number of travelers nationwide who will drive to their Thanksgiving destinations. This represents an additional 1.3 million road travelers during the holiday compared to 2023.
- $2.85 – South Dakota average cost per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, as of 11/19/24, about 40 cents less than the average one year ago.