To hit the road is to leave and start your journey. Time to hit the road, hit the road early, we should hit the road.
It is informal and cheerful and belongs to long drives more than short ones. The same violent verb turns up all over English for setting off, as in hit the trail and hit the beach.
1phrasehit the roadTo leave and start your journey.
“It's getting late; we should hit the road before the traffic gets bad.”
hit the road is a leaving.
From hit in the informal American sense of setting out upon something.
Compare typologically уда́риться в бега́, уда́рить по та́пкам, тро́нуться.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Idioms