Abstract
Anna Letitia Zivarts’ concise book, When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press, 2024), is an eye-opening read on the lived experiences of those who do not drive and the failings of the transit systems, designs of roadways and highways, and connectivity in communities across the United States.
In the introduction, the author shares her story as a nondriver due to visual impairment in Washington state and her professional role in nondriver policy work and advocacy, both within her state and across the United States. Through her commitment to interviewing fellow nondrivers, she grounds the book in their stories, insights, and personal comments. Zivarts also provides statistical evidence and cites a broad scope of research across disciplines ranging from AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) to the National Highway Administration, and the Department of Justice to support her imperative for change. Throughout the text, the author provides examples from across the nation about how each of us can contribute to and work towards a more equitable mobility system. She examines problems and spotlights progress that is being made at local, state, and federal levels.
As a lifelong active traveler who has never driven a motor vehicle, I was pleased to learn about this book. I prefer the alternate and recognized term “active traveler” over “nondriver,” since it describes what I am doing versus what I am not doing. Nevertheless, the author's recommendations resonated with me as I read this work while riding the bus and waiting at bus stops with my groceries in the summer heat. It is an instructive, illuminating, and even daunting read, considering the work ahead to meet the goal of making roadways safe for all travelers.
In this book review, I will highlight the author's main theses, give a summary of selected points in each chapter, and share my perspective from another active traveler's point of view.
Habits and Perceptions Need to Change
Imagining this different future of community design and connecting roadways that can truly be shared by all kinds of travelers that Zivarts proposes is likely difficult to picture and may feel threatening to many readers who have grown up in a nation that is designed for and prioritizes motor vehicle drivers, individuals who rely on driving to comfortably and conveniently manage life's responsibilities. The price tag of the changes proposed by the author is not the highest hurdle: The author acknowledges that adjusting people's habits and perceptions of “car as king” is the mightier obstacle. Nondrivers by no means hate cars and other motor vehicles, since we all benefit from their use to deliver people or goods to a destination. Fortunately, we can all win when roadways are safer, communities are more walkable, and air quality and other environmental factors have improved because of these proposed changes.
Mobility Is a Human Right
Zivarts rightly states that mobility—safe, accessible, and dependable modes of mobility—is a human right. Over the course of several decades, the United States has shifted to a greater dependency on vehicles and roadway design that prioritizes driving at the expense of pedestrians, cyclists, and similar forms of transportation (e.g., the use of scooters or wheelchairs). Consider completing weekly, routine tasks such as traveling to work, doctors’ appointments, school, grocery stores, childcare, and sports activities whether your residence is urban, suburban, or rural. These common transportation needs are examples of mobility challenges shared by nondrivers throughout the book, and their frustrations put a glaring spotlight on the shortfalls of our current “car is king” system.
The book is organized into four chapters with recurring themes that appear throughout the text: (1) Nondrivers are more numerous than you think; (2) Nondrivers’ version of a well-designed transit system will make it possible for them to manage their daily responsibilities; (3) Building a more equitable mobility system that considers all types of users benefits everyone; and (4) Nondrivers need to be included in the change process.
One-Third of People Living in the United States Do Not Drive
Zivarts opens Chapter 1 with a startling 2022 statistic from the U.S. Department of Transportation that one-third of people living in the United States do not have a driver's license. A variety of reasons exist for why someone is not a driver. This number includes elderly adults who have stopped driving, children and youths who are not yet of driving age, adults who cannot afford the financial demands of driving, and individuals who have disabilities (e.g., visual impairments or anxiety disorders) that make driving unsafe.
The author provides multiple examples that show how transit inequity especially affects people of color (e.g., Black, Native American, or Native Alaskan) and the immigrant population as they more often live in under-resourced areas with less connectivity to employment options. These numbers alone would seem to have enough weight to demand change, but the distinct groups within this nondriving population are not unified, thus, they do not have the collective voice of a coalition. Zivarts recognizes that children and youths are typically not counted in the nondriver number, and she asserts that their mobility needs, though not fully independent, are relevant enough to be included in this calculation.
Mobility Needs of Nondrivers
Next, Zivarts catalogs a practical list of nondriver mobility needs in Chapter 2. First up, sidewalks are basic and critical needs for nondrivers. Sidewalks need to connect residential areas to business districts, commercial areas, and services such as healthcare. When sidewalks are nonexistent and pathways are not level, active travelers move to the street. When sidewalks are available and well maintained, more people are likely to use them.
In terms of roadways, slowing the speed of traffic and widening the shoulders of streets for safer passage of active travelers has a positive effect on safety overall. Safe and accessible crosswalks and intersections are another fundamental need. Zivarts discusses issues such as crosswalks that are spaced too far apart, non-signalized crossings that put active travelers at risk, and roundabouts that have continuous flows of traffic. She points out that an intersection that feels hazardous is a less-used intersection so there is no valid measure of its potential use.
Numerous headlines have reported on the sharp rise of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the last decade, which Zivarts refers to as a public crisis. She describes what feels like a tug-of-war in roadway use between automobility and nondriver travel. People in the United States have a growing sense of danger when traveling on roads and highways as traffic volume, travel speeds, and vehicle size have all increased. This combination of factors makes for an unsafe travel environment in every size of community. For these reasons, design that considers connectivity and safety across mobility systems integrates a community.
The Benefits of Walkable Communities
Everyone likes the idea of a walkable neighborhood with restaurants, grocery options, and services around the corner. This ideal city design receives greater attention in Zivarts’ work, considering the rise of urban density and infrastructure that is far from prepared to handle the demand of increased populations. She points out that housing, transit, and services must be conceived as an ecosystem in which nondrivers are able to get to appointments and commitments without strategizing a trip that takes two hours and three modes of travel compared to 30 min of driving by car.
Zivarts notes that advances in technology with options such as remote access and delivery services have helped nondrivers, but these supports are not always accessible to people who are screen-reader users, nor are they available across the board in many rural and under-resourced communities.
The downside of the popularity of multiuse commercial centers within neighborhoods is that they carry a prohibitively high housing price tag. She points out that cities have invited population density without accepting that congestion is an inevitable part of the invitation. Everyone wins when transportation stress is reduced by smart community design and access to appealing mass transit that means less driving.
For a century, driving has been a key piece of the “American Dream,” and the government has built a system that keeps that dream in motion. “How unfortunate” is the pitying phrase too often uttered by drivers to those who need to rely on mass transit and alternate forms of active travel. Funding a transit system that is frequent, reliable, and fully accessible would be a huge step to shifting a public perception of nondriving lifestyle as legitimate and even positive. Everyone wins with cleaner air, less noise pollution, and transit availability.
Nondrivers Can Drive Change
Zivarts’ culminating message in Chapter 4 emphasizes including nondrivers in the process of changing the transportation infrastructure as it exists today. They are one-third of the population who have spent countless hours taking long transit rides, waiting for extended amounts of time for transfers, and walking in the elements between bus stops or home. Because of these experiences, nondrivers have innovative ideas for improvement. Decision-makers ought to value the time and expertise of nondrivers by ensuring that they have a seat at the table, as well as in leadership roles, as changes are envisioned and enacted.
It is also important to help transportation professionals (e.g., engineers, highway administration) see beyond the car. Zivarts spends a few paragraphs talking about and daring drivers to take the annual challenge of a Week without Driving. She encourages drivers to step into the shoes of those who rely on transportation alternatives to move about their communities daily and consider how the tug-of-war of drivers versus nondrivers can be reframed with collaboration and experiencing different perspectives. Elected officials who seek to correct the access disparity between drivers and nondrivers should be supported in their efforts to transform a myopic system that fails to recognize diverse needs.
Proposals for Change Without a Clear Plan
This was a highly informative book, and I have a few constructive comments. The purpose of When Driving Is Not an Option proposes a list of necessary changes, but the scope of the book does not allow for a plan of how to implement or fund these solutions. Zivarts acknowledges that this problem needs to be solved by professionals who are committed to creating and retrofitting an inclusive twenty-first-century transit and roadway system.
The targeted changes described in the text that include accessible sidewalks, improved public storage of bicycles and scooters, and intercity transit services are a significant transformation to imagine. The book could have included a section that outlines how two communities of different sizes have succeeded in creating an inclusive transit system, which would have helped readers better picture that future.
The author is open in sharing that nystagmus is her visual impairment and states that she is not able to drive. Yet, many people with nystagmus are able to drive. Consider that driving is a hot topic in forums and conferences for people with albinism, a genetic disorder that commonly includes nystagmus. Since nondriving is the single focus of this book, it may have been a conflict of interest for the author to mention the bioptic, a dual telescopic lens system, that some drivers with low vision use in obtaining a driver's license. Zivarts refers to a vision scope rather than naming the bioptic. This omission is a missed opportunity that could have alerted readers to an innovative device and an empowering option for driving with low vision.
I was pleased that, in the final chapter, Zivarts introduced Michael McGinn and the valuable work of the grassroots organization for which he is executive director, America Walks, a leading advocacy coalition dedicated to creating safe, walkable, and accessible communities. The monthly webinars and panels presented by America Walks, one example of a nonprofit change agent, provide valuable in-depth analysis on topics covered in her book.
Including children in the count of nondrivers is warranted, and Zivarts articulates her position well. Few instructional guides are written for children and youths on learning the skills and resources of active travel. Finding Wheels: Strategies to Build Independent Travel Skills for Those with Visual Impairments (Corn & Rosenblum, 2020) is a student, family, and teacher-friendly text worth mentioning in the resources list.
No Longer Making the Best out of a Bad Situation
Within the pages of this work, Zivarts covers many more important topics than can be mentioned here. The re-imagined transit system of the future for drivers and nondrivers that she describes is reasonable, realistic, and undeniably daunting. Her book is grounded in both lived experiences and wide-ranging research. The chapters present a logical progression of information as she reports on the 30% of people in our nation who do not drive, outlines the practical needs that nondrivers require of a usable transit system, describes improvements in the system that would benefit all, and states that nondrivers need to be included in this change process.
Along with examining the transit system failures, she is enthusiastic in sharing active travel success stories from communities of all sizes. Zivarts is adamant about change and no longer making the best of a bad transit situation. She concludes the book with a powerful statement, “We built this system, we can change this system.”
When Driving Is Not an Option is a pivotal text for the critical collaborative work ahead. What strides we could see in the next decade with agencies and individuals working together on a mobility system that values both drivers and nondrivers.