Labor Day isn’t one of the busiest travel times of the year; AAA doesn’t even put out the same national advisories that it does for major holidays.
Given two recent studies about Florida’s bad drivers, the state’s soaring highway death toll that the Legislature hasn’t adequately addressed and rising gas prices, fewer people on the road for Labor Day isn’t all bad though it doesn’t help Southwest Florida’s tourism base.
While AAA doesn’t predict the number of Labor Day travelers, it does track gasoline prices that are trending up because of the shutdown of eight Texas refineries as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Going into the Labor Day weekend, gas prices surged to an average of $2.37 per gallon — one of the summer’s biggest weekly jumps, AAA said.
Florida had the third-biggest weekly increase among states, 7 cents per gallon, behind only Indiana and Ohio, AAA said.
“Despite the country’s overall oil and gasoline inventories being at or above five-year highs, until there is a clear picture of damage and an idea when refineries can return to full operational status, gas prices will continue to increase,” AAA spokeswoman Jeanette Casselano said in a statement.
Safe highways
Florida has a concerning record for highway safety the past three years. That should serve as an important reminder to anyone venturing out for road trips or local outings this Labor Day weekend.
In the spring, a study ranked Florida the second-most dangerous state for drivers distracted behind the wheel. EverQuote, an online service for comparing auto insurance policy quotes, looked at data for 20 million trips across 230 million miles. Scoring drivers based on use of smartphones, observance of speed limits, rapid braking and fast acceleration, Florida finished behind only Louisiana. The analysis showed 92 percent of the nation’s drivers use cellphones while their car is in motion.
More recently, SmartAsset for the second year in a row rated Florida drivers worst in the nation. The online company that offers personal finance advice looked at factors such as uninsured drivers, fatalities per 100 million miles traveled and driving under the influence citations per 1,000 drivers.
In most states, 85 percent to 95 percent of drivers are insured but in Florida it’s 76.2 percent, second-worst behind Oklahoma, the analysis found. Only five states made fewer impaired motorist arrests per driver than Florida. Also, Florida was among the worst 10 states in highway deaths per miles driven.
In 2012, the state transportation department set a goal of reducing highway deaths by 5 percent a year over a five-year period — through this coming Dec. 31. To reach that goal, the state would have to reduce its highway death toll from 2,431 in 2012 to 1,881 by the end of 2017.
As of early Thursday, the Florida Highway Patrol reported 1,865 had died so far this year in traffic crashes in the state, including 20 in Collier and 76 in Lee.
By Labor Day, it’s possible the state will have tragically reached its target number for the entire year with nearly four more months to go in 2017. The state could approach 2,500 traffic fatalities for the third consecutive year.