Memorial Day is one of the biggest travel weekends of the year. Here are a few tips to help you plan your drive and beat the rush.

On Memorial Day 2018, drivers in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago saw the greatest increase in their average time spent in the car compared to the distance they actually travelled.

The Chicago metro area saw 16% more drivers on Memorial Day, and traffic speeds slowed up to 33% between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. New York and Philadelphia both saw a 10% increase in drivers, and traffic speeds were between 14% and 16% slower during the morning and evening rush hours.

Los Angeles saw an 11% increase in drivers and a 10% slowdown in traffic nearly all day, from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m., Waze reports.

Not all Memorial Day travel is for vacation. Cemeteries also see many more visitors, thanks to celebrations, parades, and people coming to pay respects to fallen members of the armed forces.

Last year, the number of people using Waze to navigate to cemeteries increased by 159% on Memorial Day, compared to the Mondays before and after the holiday. Roughly three times as many people went to the beach on Memorial Day, and more than twice as many people went to the movies, according to Waze.

Of course, the best way to avoid long delays while driving is making a clear plan to avoid rush hour congestion.

Waze has a Planned Drives feature that will help you chart a path based on when you need to reach your destination, avoiding the most congested areas when possible.

Google Maps and Apple Maps will also let you view predicted traffic for the time you plan to depart, or check when you should plan to depart if you hope to arrive by a specific time.

While some traffic is inevitable when you're visiting a major city, avoiding peak rush hours will at least keep you from suffering doubled or tripled travel times. Regardless of where you drive, be sure to get plenty of sleep, and save your energy for your trip instead of yelling at other drivers.