Angie Schmitt

Angie Schmitt is one of the country's best known writers and experts on the topic of sustainable transportation. She was the long-time national editor at Streetsblog. Her writing and commentary have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and National Public Radio. She is the founder and principal at 3MPH Planning and Consulting, a small firm focused on pedestrian safety. She lives in Cleveland with her husband and two children.

Right of Way: Addressing the Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

The number of pedestrian deaths has been rising in recent years. What can communities do to turn this around?

Urban Reads: Angie Schmitt

Journalist Angie Schmitt discussed her book, Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America. Right of Way unveiled a crisis rooted in both inequality and the undeterred reign of the automobile in our cities.

Right of Way: Organizing for equitable, walkable communities

Healthy, vibrant communities are often places where you can walk safely to school, the grocery store, or just down the street to a neighbors house. Walkable communities are good for our physical health, but also our neighborhood's health. And yet, pedestrian deaths are up 50% in the last decade, and the stark geographic patterns of traffic violence tell a story about systemic inequality—where immigrants, the poor, and people of color are disproportionately impacted by traffic violence.

Right of Way: How Racial and Class Disparities Created a Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

In the last ten years, there has been a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths. In 2018 alone more than 6,000 people were killed while walking in America. Yet, despite the increase in deaths, the tragedy of traffic violence has barely registered with the media and wider culture.

Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America w/ Angie Schmitt

America Walks hosted a conversation with Angie Schmitt and Charles Brown. Contrary to popular opinion, pedestrian deaths in the United States are not unavoidable “accidents,” but highly predictable events, occurring in stark geographic patterns that tell a story about systemic inequalities. The victims are disproportionately those marginalized by society: immigrants, People of Color, those with lower incomes, older people, and people with disabilities.