Summer travel season off to a busy but calm start in the South Bay

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer travel season and AAA says it expects 44 million people to travel across the country by car and in the air.

Things were pretty calm at the San Jose Mineta International Airport, but the roads were expected to be busier than usual. Law enforcement officials say they added extra patrols to help keep drivers safe on the roads.

“Every time during the holiday period, we try to have all the officers that are available looking for impaired drivers. People that are not driving safely,”” said Arturo Montiel, with California Highway Patrol.  

California Highway Patrol says it’s beefing up patrols across the Bay Area. AAA estimates that nearly 40 million people will use a vehicle to travel for this holiday. CHP and local law enforcement encourage drivers to follow traffic laws when behind the wheel.

“It might be legal, but you cannot be driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or any other substance,” said Montiel.  

San Jose Police say they responded to a fatal traffic accident on Montague Expressway and O’Toole Ave on Monday afternoon. One driver suffered major injuries and another driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not said if alcohol or drugs were involved. 

Meanwhile, at the airport in San Jose, passengers arriving in the Bay Area say air travel went as smoothly as could be expected.

“Our plane was delayed about 40 minutes, but we anticipated it being busy, so we got there early, and it was fine,” said Lori, of San Jose. 

“I was a little bit reluctant to travel to Las Vegas because I’ve heard the rumors that Memorial Day is crazy busy, and it was busy, but I had a great time,” said Ilbra, of San Jose.  

Other air travelers told KTVU they had no issues while flying and that made their travel experience much more enjoyable.

“I had no problem. It was great. Usually there’s a lot of traffic to LAX. Very easy from where I was, and the bags are already out. The bags are out, and we just got here, so that’s very impressive,” said Henry Siegel, of Stanford. 

“We always plan ahead. We always make sure that we have everything lined up. Make sure we know our Uber is coming. Everything,” said Nelly Suissa, of San Carlos. 

CHP says it’ll keep monitoring the roads with added patrols until midnight.