AUSTIN (KXAN) — A recent survey by AAA Texas found driving habits have stabilized since the pandemic but revealed safety issues for older cars. The numbers show most Americans — more than 93% drive at least occasionally — averaging more than 2 trips a day, spending 60 minutes a day in the car, traveling almost 30 miles each day. Most daily drives were to run errands.
It found newer vehicles are used more for longer trips and greater distances, and that Hispanic & Latino drivers had the highest driving durations and miles compared to all other ethnic groups in 2023.
KXAN Traffic Anchor Erica Brennes sat down to discuss these numbers with Daniel Armbruster from AAA Texas.
Erica: “We’re going to talk a little bit about post-pandemic driving patterns. AAA conducted a survey about driving patterns and drivers, I guess, whether they’re happy with how things are shaping up, what did they find?”
Daniel: “Yeah, 2024 has been a record year for travel. We saw this summer, we saw record travel over Fourth of July. We saw near-record travel at Memorial Day. And of course, all modes of travel saw an increase year over year when it came to travel.”