Aaa Mid Atlantic

WE'VE ALL experienced highway driving with large trucks. In bad weather, their dirty spray can eclipse our windshields and make driving challenging. And with the must-get-home-for-the-holidays road trips and winter season approaching, we need to know how to deal with trucks. "Nearly all motorists have experienced the problem of reduced visibility because of truck splash and spray when driving on wet roads," said John White, public and government relations manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "In wet weather, this spray can temporarily leave a car's windshield completely obstructed and can hinder a driver's ability to safely react to dangerous circumstances on the road."

The Easter weekend has brought rising gasoline prices — and many Maryland drivers are hitting the brakes. Home health care aide Jennifer Wofford has limited the number of patients she's seeing. Maeghan Thomas is cutting down on going out. More people are using mass transit. And AAA Mid-Atlantic is receiving more roadside calls for assistance from drivers who have run out of gas. Over the past week, prices continued what looks like an inexorable march toward the $4 mark. Maryland prices rose 3 cents to match the national average for a gallon of regular of $3.85 — a dollar more than last year at this time.

Consumers might complain about hefty prices at the gas pump, but they're not letting the cost get in the way of going on vacation. Though gasoline prices are expected to be the highest ever for a Memorial Day holiday, the official start to the summer vacation season, travelers plan to hit the road in record numbers this weekend, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Some hotels and resorts are offering gas rebates as incentives, but a number of them say they're doing it more for promotion than from fear of empty hotel rooms.

AAA Mid-Atlantic is predicting a big jump in the number of Marylanders who will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year, with state residents taking to the road at a rate slightly higher than the national average. The group projects that almost 850,000 Marylanders will travel 50 miles or more between Wednesday and the following Sunday. That represents an 11.8 percent increase over 2009, compared with an expected national average of 11.4 percent. The difference apparently reflects the employment market, which has been more robust in Maryland than most other states.

"Staycations" will rule this Fourth of July, according to AAAMid Atlantic. The group for motorists predicts that about 760,000 Marylanders will travel this coming weekend, a 2.9 percent decrease from last year. Ragina C. Averella, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said that although travel by Marylanders is down from last year, the numbers are still promising overall. "Despite what may appear to be less than a stellar forecast for the July 4 holiday, overall travel is robust, reflecting the second consecutive year of healthy travel figures after declines for the 2008 and 2009 holidays," Averella said.

It was a monster fill for Marc Fischer's Ford Excursion. When the pump came to a halt yesterday at a Columbia Exxon gas station, the bill was a whopper: $91.61. And it might continue to grow. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached an average of $2.93 yesterday in Maryland - a 28-cent jump over last month, according to AAA statistics. Nationally, the average price of a gallon of gas is $2.95. While prices are down slightly from the statewide average of $3.02 at this time last year, increases are expected to continue, analysts say, as demand for gasoline rises during the busy summer months - from Memorial Day to Labor Day - when Americans traditionally take to the roads in high numbers.

June Jordan usually flies when she goes to visit family in South Carolina. But when she saw how high air fares have climbed, she decided - for the first time - to take the train from Baltimore's Penn Station to Columbia. True, her Amtrak train would take 10 hours, getting her in at a sleepy 1:47 this morning. But Jordan, 66, had snacks, water and a Danielle Steel romance to keep her company. With a senior discount, she saved more than $200 by taking the train. "Airfare is too expensive," said Jordan's daughter, Sandy Scheuerman, who bought the $140 train ticket for her mother and was dropping her off at the station.

When gas prices hit $3 last week, Baltimore resident Michael Baker had second thoughts about traveling to New York City for a family gathering. But, heck, Labor Day is the last holiday of the summer, and Baker figured he might as well enjoy the long weekend before "things get hectic." So he and his siblings took a two-car caravan to Brooklyn, despite the higher-than-ever gasoline prices looming over their trip. "What option did we have - ride a bicycle or a scooter to New York City?" said Baker, 23, as he took a driving break yesterday morning at the Chesapeake House rest area along Interstate 95 in North East.

SOME OF you might have noticed a change recently in the signal pattern at Route 99 and Maplewood Drive. Dave Buck of the State Highway Administration's communications office said the signal, which was installed almost a year and a half ago at the request of a nearby elementary school, was switched about two weeks ago. When installed, the signal was flashing most of the time, operating only at peak times in the morning and afternoon on weekdays. Now, it is a "fully actuated" signal from early Monday through the rush hour Friday.

Marylanders heading off to visit loved ones encountered heavy, but not unbearable, traffic on most state roadways -- and weather that left a lot to be desired as heavy rain made for a soggy Thanksgiving Eve. During the evening rush, traffic on the Bay Bridge was especially heavy because of several minor accidents and the inability of officials to open a third lane for eastbound traffic, said Lindsay Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority....