BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) — The temperatures are so cold that many cars across the region are having a hard time starting up Friday.
AAA Northeast tells WBZ NewsRadio that typically they field 22-percent of their calls for roadside assistance are for dead car batteries.
Today it was up to 42-percent and wait times into AAA are also longer than usual.
Among the many stranded is WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal who was scheduled to be out reporting Friday morning but is instead waiting for a tech. It took Regal approximately 20-minutes to get on the phone with someone at the call center.
Mary Maguire with AAA Northeast says the spike isn't just the cold itself; it's that it cold got so severe at a time when so many people would be on the road -- thanksgiving weekend.
She says that they do have extra people on-call to help stranded motorists.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal ) reports