Five Things You Should Know About the summer driving season:
Gas prices have a big impact on summer driving: It’s simple supply-and-demand; we’re more likely to make a summer road-trip when gas prices are down. Gas prices are averaging $2.38 in Wisconsin, down 23-cents from last summer. But go back to the summer of 2005 when Hurricane Katrine disrupted refinery output — Wisconsin gas prices spiked to $4.11. A Gallop survey from that summer showed 48% of all drivers would curtail their travel plans because of higher prices. Among young people 30-and-under, 60% said they’d scrap vacation plans because of higher pump prices.
GasBuddy.com projects gas prices will rise to an average of $2.65 in early July. Even with those increases, a weekend round-trip from the center of Wisconsin to Minneapolis or Chicago would cost you about $16 more in gasoline compared to today’s prices – probably not enough to change anyone’s plans.
Summer auto traffic is expected to rise another 2% this year on top of increases seen in 2015, 2014, and 2013.
Fatal crashes spike during the summer months: Consider the snow and ice of December with the sunshine of June. Weather be damned, there are more fatal traffic accidents in Wisconsin during the summer months than winter. Difficult winter driving conditions aren’t the determining factor in crashes – it’s the number of people driving and the distances they’re travelling. And those numbers factors all work against you in the summer. The numbers of inexperienced drivers, the use of alcohol, and long-distance travelling for vacation are all higher during the summer months.Wisconsin had 451 fatal crashes last year. 64% of them happened in the three months – June, July, and August — roughly corresponding when school is out. 2016’s traffic statistics are trending slightly higher than a year ago. And that’s because of an unusually deadly February ’16 on Wisconsin highways. And February was an unusually-mild winter month when vehicle miles were up despite only 29 days instead of 30 or 31.
Seatbelt use is important: The biggest risk for being killed or suffering a serious injury in a car accident is alcohol. Death or maiming is 11-times more likely in crashes were alcohol is a factor. But people who drink and drive are still the exception rather than the rule. Unbuckled drivers are much more common than drunk drivers. And you’re 7-times more likely to be killed or hurt if you aren’t wearing your seat belt.
Wisconsin’s seat belt usage is up to 86-percent, which is just slightly below the national average of 88-percent. That’s a big increase from 61-percent 15-years ago. Wisconsin’s seat belt usage bumped up even further in 2009 when we switched to a primary-enforcement law. Now police can pull you over just for not wearing your seatbelt. Under the old law there had to be another violation first before a seatbelt citation could be issued.
While the fine is only $10, seatbelt violations are part of the insurance industry’s CLUE data base. Most insurers will adjust your rates accordingly if you get caught not buckling up.
Beware of drunk driving – our drunk driving statistics are above the national average in all categories: Yes, we love our beer in Wisconsin. And drunk driving is a bigger problem here than the rest of the country. 3.1% of all Wisconsin drivers self-reported in an anonymous survey that they’ve driven after “drinking too much” in the past 30-days. The nationwide average is 1.9%. And although Wisconsin has toughened the penalties for repeat offenders, we’re still the only state in the country where a first time OWI is not a criminal violation and doesn’t require a court appearance.
Not all summer road trips have to be far away: Most tourists who visit Wisconsin are from surrounding states: Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa are our most-frequent visitors. And Wisconsinites are more likely to road-trip in-state than out-of-state. Planetware.com ranks Wisconsin’s 12 best summer destinations as (12 through 1): The House on the Rock in Spring Green, the Ice Age Trail, Door County, the National Railroad Museum at Green Bay, the Land O Lakes chain, Lambeau Field and the Packers Hall of Fame, Wisconsin Dells, the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin State Capitol, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin East, and the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
Chris Conley6.9.16
