Suffolk drivers warned to prepare for busy roads due to Christmas traffic
The AA reckons tomorrow's going to be the busiest day of the year on the roads
If you're - as Chris Rea would say - driving home for Christmas over the next few days Suffolk Police is warning drivers make sure they're prepared before setting off.
It's as the AA reckons tomorrow's (Friday 20th December) going to be the busiest day of the year on the roads - with 23.7 million people planning a trip.
It's expected to be the busiest Christmas getaway day of any year since 2010.
We spoke to Inspector Gary Miller from the Norfolk and Suffolk Roads Policing team who gave us some advice on how to prepare before hitting the road:
- Make sure you have enough time to do your journey, allow extra time.
- Make sure your vehicle is roadworthy - check oil, tyre pressure, water, screen wash and coolant, check that your lights and windscreen wipers work.
- Keep provisions in the car, such as warm clothes, food, water, lighting and phone chargers and break down items to warn other motorists of your situation.
"You don't want a warning coming up halfway through your journey to saying one of the critical fluids within a vehicle's low."
Inspector Miller also encourages people to think about who they're able to call in am emergency situation and what kind of support they may need.
He is also encouraging people not to put off making repairs to their vehicle: "It's a false economy.
"All of those things are critical. If you're doing any sort of journey, but particularly a long journey, the very fact is, if you don't check those things and then something goes wrong, which is quite likely, it invariably means that the cost of whatever that repair or replacement is, it will be significantly higher than if you'd done those checks in the first place.
"I appreciate it's an expensive time of year, I appreciate people are busy with lots of things, but these are some basic checks to make sure you get where you need to get safely."