What if you could still get everywhere you wanted to go, even if you don’t drive or don’t have a car?
That’s the world I challenge you to imagine.
When Driving Is Not an Option shines a light on the frustrating, dangerous, and sometimes deadly situations involuntary nondrivers face every day and outlines steps to center the voices of nondrivers and make transportation more inclusive. Drawing from both her own experiences as a low-vision, non-driving mom and those of nondrivers across the country, Zivarts amplifies voices rarely heard or acknowledged by the people making decisions about transportation design and funding.
About the author
Anna Zivarts
Anna Zivarts is a visually impaired parent and author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island/Princeton University Press, 2024). Since its publication, Zivarts has led more than 125 presentations and discussions about the book across 24 states and four Canadian provinces. In 2021, Zivarts launched the now global education awareness campaign Week Without Driving to build support for transit investments and support for accessible, connected communities. Zivarts is the founder and executive director of the Nondrivers Alliance, and earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Stanford University.
Selected Interviews
Recent Essays
- “E-bikes mean freedom for low vision cyclists like me, don’t take that away.” amNY, September 2026.
- “Week Without Driving is About Access: How the Nondriver Movement is Building Disability Powe.” Disability Culture Lab, September 2026.
- “Will Rainier Valley Transit Riders Actually Benefit from the Proposed Rapid Ride R?” Publicola, August 2026
- “How Do We Get Transit Champions on Transit Boards?” Publicola,
- “Latvia Shows a Path to Break Car Dependence.” The Urbanist.
- “Nobody Wants to Live Next to a Highway,” The Urbanist.
- “How bike buses can leave some students behind.” Seattle Bike Blog.
- “How ‘Week Without Driving’ Is Having An Impact.” StreetsblogUSA.
- “School Dropoff Is Everything that Sucks About Car Culture.” Romper.
- “E-Bikes Mean Freedom for Low-Vision Bicyclists.” StreetsMN.
- “Washington State Should Allow Riders to Serve on Transit Boards.” The Urbanist.
- “I Tried to Hate-Ride a Waymo. Turns Out, I Loved It (And therein lies the problem with the autonomous vehicle revolution).” StreetsblogUSA
- “Why Should You Need a Driver’s License to Be a Hotel Receptionist?” Governing.
- “Don’t Forget About Nondrivers in Rural America.” Daily Yonder.
- “You cannot prioritize all modes.” Planetzien.
