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If you’re someone that frequents and cherishes drive-thrus like most of Americans, well, it’s about to get a little bit harder to do so in some cities around the U.S.
Some cities around the country are banning the building of new fast-food restaurant drive-thrus.
In August, Minneapolis became the latest city to ban new drive-thrus joining the likes of Fair Haven, N.J.; Creve Couer, Mo.; and Long Beach, Calif., according to NPR.
Now the big question here is why? It’s convenient, fast and they are money-making machines, but the ban’s main focuses are curbing emissions and improving pedestrian safety among other aspects.
Most bans focus on curbing emissions, reducing litter, improving pedestrian safety and enhancing walkability. In Minneapolis, City Council President Lisa Bender notes that the ordinance fits in with Minneapolis 2040, a plan for growth and development that includes achieving an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
But such legislation is also sometimes promoted as an opportunity to create healthier food environments and curb obesity.
Of course it goes without saying that in doing this a huge hope is to lower the obesity rate, but interestingly enough back in 2008 a South Los Angeles regulation was passed that prohibited the opening or expanding fast-food restaurants and drive-thru windows only the obesity rates actually went up.
They made it a little bit more difficult to get your hands on fast-food, but it didn’t help and the obesity rates continued to increase during the following three years.
Obesity rates went up, not down, after South Los Angeles banned new stand-alone fast-food restaurants and drive-through windows, according to research published in the journal Social Science & Medicine in 2015. Sturm, the lead author, notes that the rates of overweight and obesity continued climbing in the three years following the ban.
These new ordinances being passed in cities around the country aren’t banning fast-food, let’s be clear on that, just the creation of new ones. This is a pretty serious response by these cities to the fast-food chains that offer up crazy, unhealthy products and are not willing to change.