After a year of lockdowns, Americans are ready to hit the road for their summer vacations—and memories of vacations past are fueling their wanderlust. That’s actually been recorded in surveys, including one by Carinsurance.com. According to results, 79% of Americans have taken a family road trip in the last five years and 70% of those families report having the time of their lives during those vacations.
They’ve also tested which method of transportation people use for travelling. The majority of Americans (68%) prefer road trips for summer travel, compared to 15% of respondents in the annual survey of 1,000 drivers who say they would rather fly, and 17% who only favor car travel now because of the pandemic and expect to resume flying eventually.
The research also highlights what family road trip experiences are like and how drivers feel when on the road, how they cope with traffic, and what types of mishaps they’ve experienced due to poor road conditions.
As a result of peoples’ gravitation towards driving, there have been adverse effects. According to the Department of Transportation, the conditions of roads around the country are getting worse. This results in many drivers sustaining major (30%) or minor (30%) car damage because of poor road conditions, 15% hit objects, and 14% get into an accident with another car. Just one accident can raise your yearly car insurance rate by 32%, or $450 a year, on average.
24% of people planned to take a road trip last year, but their driving plans were wrecked by COVID. Another top reason for skipping a family road trip is work: 20% of respondents say they can’t get time off, though that’s down from last year’s 23% percent. Other common reasons for avoiding road trips include high gas prices (20%) and difficulty with hotels (10%). Another 11% percent of people complain about spending so much time trapped in the car with family members.
Dealing with traffic woes
During their trips, 53% of drivers say they are relaxed and content, up from 37% who felt this way last year. How do Americans cope when they experience traffic delays?
- 69% listen to music
- 30% listen to news
- 25% talk on the phone
- 23% listen to audiobooks or podcasts
- 21% check social media on the phone
- 18% listen to sports radio
- 17% text on their phone
- 11% get out of the car and walked around if in stopped traffic for extended time
- 10% eat an entire meal
- 9% talk with strangers in other cars to pass the time
Conclusion
People love to travel and that’s only expected to increase as the pandemic begins to come to a close. Despite everything, people still love to travel, and now more than ever people love being on the open road, even if it comes with complications.
