While the price of a gallon of fuel was far lower last year, the annual AAA Thanksgiving report nevertheless estimates that even greater numbers of Americans will hit the roads today, travelling 50 miles or more.
Around a million people planned to travel that distance in the Washington area, which is around 16 per cent of the total population. California, which had seen a 25 per cent drop in holiday travel over the previous two years, should see an eight per cent increase.
New Jersey bucks the trend, with about five per cent fewer people travelling. This may be due to a greater increase in fuel prices in that area with the average price per gallon rising from $1.90 in 2008 to $2.56 this year.
Overall, 38.4 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles – an increase of about 1.4 per cent compared to last year.