STEERING AWAY FROM CAR DEPENDENCY
Author Anna Zivarts — who was born with nystagmus, a genetic condition that means her eyes are always shaking, affecting her vision and preventing her from driving — is the program director of the Disability Mobility Initiative at Disability Rights Washington.
A community organizer by profession, she redoubled her
efforts to fight for better pedestrian mobility when she learned her son has
the same low vision condition she has.
She says she gets a lot of pushback when talking about
the number of nondrivers — adding that some studies, including from Washington
and Wisconsin, place the number closer to 30 percent.
But she believes
planners, policymakers, and others need to start seeing and engaging with
nondrivers, understanding the needs of this significant chunk of the
population, and including nondrivers in transportation planning decisions.
They also need to make roads safer for everybody, and she
lays out changes planners can make in her book -- When Driving is Not an
Option.
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