Gas prices, air fares and grocery bills are steadily rising. These reasons and more will keeps many Florida residents on the homefront this weekend. Compared to a year ago gas prices are on average one dollar more. In Broward County the average price of regular unleaded is about $3.95.
The recent spikes have forced many Floridians to take trips closer to home, causing them to be more vulnerable to the police patrol increase, common on holiday weekends. As far as the airports go officials are claiming that they very well may reach a record traffic volume between Thursday and Tuesday. For example, the Fort Lauderdale Airport is expecting almost 400,000 travelers in this time span. This would be somewhere around 80,000 passengers per day.
This means that traffic to, from, and around West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami airports will yield dangerously slow traffic trends for quite sometime. So, even those opting to take car trips will be subject to the effects from the high volume of travelers. This is an average of 40,000 more passengers than on a non-holiday weekends.
The pre-conceived busiest travel days are said to be Thursday and Friday, so remember to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. For example, for flights within the U.S., get there at least 2 hours prior to take off and for international flights plan on arriving at least 3 hours before. So those of you expecting to fly down I-595 right after work, don't be so confident. Watch out for major delays and for those areas without traffic be keen to speed traps.
Officials at Palm Beach International are actually expecting a normal weekend since they claim that Memorial Day is not a major holiday. Miami, however, is expecting an average of 15,000 more passengers this weekend. The highest expected volume of flyers still remains Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. Miami, however, expects Saturday and Sunday to be abnormally hectic travel days. They're basing these numbers off of a speculative increase in cruise ship travelers.
The good news is most construction zones will not be active this weekend, meaning no major speeding tickets with hefty fines and points. Luckily no doubling of points will occur, HAPPY HOLIDAY! But beware as seat belt tickets are being issued at an all time high.
Remember: something as simple as wearing your seatbelt can change an accident from resulting in death to a minor injury. So be smart, wear your belt, and don't speed -- especially not on holiday weekends where there is increased traffic, as well as a higher police presence.
Additionally, the H.O.V lane is not subject to normal hours and regulations as this rule is void on major holidays including memorial day. But be aware of quick jerks and improper lane changes as these may very well result in citations or even worse, ACCIDENTS!!!!