Anna Zivarts | An Island Press author | A black-and-white portrait of a White woman smiling with short blond hair and thick black glasses

Anna Zivarts

Anna Zivarts is a low-vision parent, nondriver and author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press, 2024). Anna created the #WeekWithoutDriving challenge and is passionate about bringing the voices of nondrivers to the planning and policy-making tables. Anna sits on the boards of the League of American Bicyclists, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium and the Washington State Transportation Innovation Council. She also serves as a member of TRB's Committee on Public Health and Transportation (AME70) and the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center Coordinating Committee.
 
 

When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Letitia Zivarts | An Island Press book | An illustration depicting a group of people waiting underneath a shelter at a bus stop. The background is lightly sketched, with a few abstract buildings and evergreen trees. At the bus stop, there are two transit ambassadors wearing uniforms, a woman with a white cane, a man using a walking cane, and a girl using a wheelchair. Adjacent to the shelter, there is a bus parked with the wheelchair r

When Driving Is Not an Option

Steering Away from Car Dependency

One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver license. Because the majority of involuntary nondrivers 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.