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Slow Traffic, Fast Food: Study Links Road Delays with Unhealthy Eating
Have you ever been hungry, stuck in traffic, and decide to pick up some fast food for dinner? If you have, you are not alone, as researchers have found that traffic delays lead to an increase in visits to fast food restaurants.
“In our analysis focusing on Los Angeles County, unexpected traffic delays beyond the usual congestion led to a 1 percent increase in fast food visits,” said Becca Taylor, study author and assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, in a statement.
“That might not sound like a lot, but it’s equivalent to 1.2 million more fast food visits per year in LA County alone,” said Taylor. “We describe our results as being modest, but meaningful in terms of potential for changing unhealthy food choices.”
The findings arose from analysis of daily highway traffic patterns over more than two years in Los Angeles, along with other data showing how many cell phone users entered fast-food restaurants in the same time period.
This combined information enabled the researchers to prove that there was a causal link between unexpected traffic slow-downs and fast-food visits.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Traffic Spikes Fast Food Visits
Researchers found that traffic delays of just 30 seconds per mile were enough to spike fast food visits by 1 percent.
“It might not be intuitive to imagine what a 30-second delay per mile feels like,” said Taylor. “I think of it as the difference between 10am traffic and 5pm traffic.”
When the scientists analyzed hour-to-hour data they found a greater number of fast food visits when traffic delays occurred during the evening rush hour. At the same time, grocery story visits went down slightly.
“If there’s traffic between 5 and 7pm, which happens to be right around the evening meal time, we see an increase in fast food visits,” said Taylor.
“Drivers have to make a decision about whether to go home and cook something, stop at the grocery store first, or just get the fast food.”
The findings for Los Angeles are likely to be similar in other major cities where fast food restaurants line highway feeder roads.
This provides policymakers in the U.S. and around the world with another good reason, said Taylor, to prioritize road and transport infrastructure reforms that will ease congestion.
The researchers suggested improvements to infrastructure to reduce traffic congestion, expand public transport and increase opportunities to work from home would all help combat unhealthy eating.
Reference
Bencsik, P., Lusher, L., & Taylor, R. L. C. (2025). Slow traffic, fast food: The effects of time lost on food store choice. Journal of Urban Economics, 146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2025.103737
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