Low gas prices to contribute to strong Christmas travel season

After a strong Thanksgiving travel season was buoyed by low gas prices, drivers hitting the road again for Christmas will also see big price drops at the pumps, according to a news release from AAA Carolinas.

Statewide, the average price for a gallon of gas is $1.79, down 50 cents from Christmas 2014 and the lowest price since 2008, the release said. Prices in Beaufort County range between $1.73 and $1.89, according to the price-monitoring site GasBuddy.

Much like Thanksgiving, a record number of state residents are expected to head out for the holidays.

An estimated 1.93 million South Carolinians are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the Christmas holidays, about 90 percent of them by car, the release said.

AAA Carolinas urged drivers to exercise caution. Last year, 42 people were killed in car wrecks In South Carolina from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3, 10 more from the same period a year prior.

The S.C. Highway Patrol has also increased efforts to crack down on DUI crashes over the holiday, announcing their Sober or Slammer campaign last week.

The campaign was announced after a sharp rise in fatalities from crashes in 2015 -- 892, up from 771 deaths over the same period in 2014. Over 40 percent of those deaths were from DUI crashes.

Highway Patrol will set up random checkpoints around Christmas and New Year's Day, but their presence will be felt more around New Year's, Highway Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Hannah Wimberly said.

Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Low gas prices to contribute to strong Christmas travel season."