READING, Pa. – According to AAA, 122.4 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles for the holidays. Nearly 110 million of them will be driving.
And when roads get crowded, crews like the ones at Matos Towing & Recovery in Reading are often the first to see what goes wrong.
Inside the yard, trucks are already prepped and ready — a familiar routine this time of year.
“When you get to the scene, first thing you do is turn all your lights on,” said Will Cordero of Matos Towing.
Once there, the process moves quickly. Cars are loaded and strapped down, and the roadway is cleared, sometimes in just minutes.
But operators say the holiday rush brings added risks.
“A lot of people rush during the holidays,” said Brooklyn Casiano, a towing operator at Matos. “They don’t pay enough attention to the road, and that causes accidents.”
The calls pile up even more when winter weather hits. Snow, ice and slick roads make driving conditions unpredictable.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says the combination of holiday travel and distracted driving increases the danger.
“Anytime you have the holidays, you have more people on the roadway,” said PennDOT Press Officer Sean Brown. “That increases the chance of bad driving behavior, whether it’s aggressive driving, distracted driving or driving under the influence.”
So the message from those responding to crashes is simple: Slow down.
“People should pay more attention to the road than their phone,” Casiano said. “And always have your seatbelt on.”