When Driving Is Not an Option
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One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver license. Because the majority of involuntary
non-drivers are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people,
and the elderly, they are largely invisible. The consequence of this invisibility is a mobility system designed almost
exclusively for drivers. This system has human-health, environmental, and quality-of-life costs for everyone, not just for
those excluded from it. If we’re serious about addressing climate change and inequality, we must address our
transportation system. In When Driving is Not an Option disability advocate Anna Letitia Zivarts shines a light on the number of people in the US
who cannot drive and explains how improving our transportation system with nondrivers in mind will create a better
quality of life for everyone.
Drawing from interviews with involuntary nondrivers from around the US and from her own experience, Zivarts
explains how nondrivers get around and the changes necessary to make our communities more accessible. These changes
include improving sidewalk connectivity; providing reliable and affordable transit and paratransit; creating more options
for biking, scooting, and wheeling; building more affordable and accessible housing; and the understanding the
unrecognized burden of asking and paying for rides.
Zivarts shows that it is critical to include people who can’t drive in transportation planning decisions. She outlines steps
that organizations can take to include and promote leadership of those who are most impacted—and too often
excluded—by transportation systems designed by and run by people who can drive. The book ends with a checklist of
actions that you, as an individual living in a car-dependent society, can take in your own life to help all of us move
beyond automobility.
When the needs of involuntary nondrivers are viewed as essential to how we design our transportation systems and our
communities, not only will we be able to more easily get where we need to go, but the changes will lead to healthier,
climate-friendly communities for everyone.
Anna Letitia Zivarts is a low-vision mom and nondriver who was born with the neurological condition nystagmus. Since launching the Disability Mobility Initiative at Disability Rights Washington in 2020, Anna has worked to bring the voices of nondrivers to the planning and policy-making tables through organizing, research and policy campaigns led by nondrivers. She began her career as a organizer and videographer, producing videos and collecting stories for the LGBT & HIV/AIDS and Voting Rights projects at the ACLU, and co-founding the union and worker-run video production company Time of Day Media.