Urbana, IL — Evening commuters are more likely to pull into a fast-food drive-thru when they’re held up by unexpected traffic delays, “leading to unhealthier eating for millions each year,” according to the results of a recent study.
Researchers from three universities looked at highway traffic patterns across Los Angeles County from January 2017 to December 2019. They analyzed information alongside cellphone GPS data that pinpointed when phone users visited fast-food restaurants during the same period. Next, they created a model that linked unexpected traffic jams and fast-food visits.
Findings show that delays of 30 seconds per mile sparked a 1% increase in fast-food visits, which translated to 1.2 million additional visits a year.
Need a frame of reference for that kind of slowdown? In a press release, study co-author Becca Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University Illinois Urbana-Champaign, compared it to “the difference between 10 a.m. traffic and 5 p.m. traffic.”
The researchers also found that evening commuters were less likely to go grocery shopping after navigating highway congestion.
“If there’s traffic between 5 and 7 p.m., which happens to be right around the evening mealtime, we see an increase in fast-food visits,” Taylor said in the release. “Drivers have to make a decision about whether to go home and cook something, stop at the grocery store first, or just get fast food.”
The study was published in the Journal of Urban Economics.
