A recent study from an Arizona State University researcher found that while having a car can boost life satisfaction, being dependent on one can start to hinder overall happiness.
The study was based on a survey of over 2,100 U.S. adults living in urban and suburban areas.
Analysis showed that when people had to use cars for more than half of their activities outside of home, satisfaction went down.
Rababe Saadaoui is a PhD student at ASU and study author.
“We see single-family homes everywhere, so that's something that encourages car dependence. So if we can rethink those policies, that would be helpful. And the other thing is parking requirements. And it's, you know, it's related to zoning in general, but rethinking and revisiting those policies can be a good step," she said.
Saadaoui said while satisfaction did decline after that tipping point, it was still higher than not having a car.
"We don't want to get rid of cars, but to at least encourage multimodality and encourage people to use other modes of transportation," Saadaoui said.
The study was published in the journal Travel Behavior and Society.
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