Bank holiday traffic: Drivers plan an estimated 16.8m leisure trips

Drivers are set to take an estimated 16.8 million separate leisure trips by car this May Day bank holiday, the highest number since 2016, according to RAC research.

The RAC expects bank holiday Monday to see the largest number of individual leisure journeys – 3.3m – followed by tomorrow (Saturday) with 3m and Sunday with 2.6m.

In addition, drivers are planning on taking an additional 5.6m trips at some point between today and Monday – although 2.3m of these will only be taken if the weather is good.

The impact of high petrol and diesel prices, however, looks certain to have an impact on just how big a ‘May Day getaway’ it will be, with 14% of drivers saying they’re not planning a leisure trip this weekend specifically for this reason.

This is more than twice the proportion of drivers who didn’t drive over Easter for the same reason (6%) and indicates that the cost-of-living crisis may now be starting to have an impact on how people spend their leisure time.

RAC traffic spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “Easter might only have been a couple of weeks ago, but it looks as though plenty of drivers are still looking to make the most of this May Day bank holiday.

“We expect routes to classic tourist hotspots – especially the coasts – to clog up on Friday afternoon and through Saturday morning, although according to our research Monday could turn out to be the busiest day of the long weekend.”