Pedestrian safety advocate Angie Schmitt addresses growing crisis

Aug 28, 2024

Renowned author and transportation expert Angie Schmitt will be in Honolulu in September to discuss the pedestrian safety crisis in our country, social trends that are putting people at risk, and why, fundamentally, it is a problem of systematic, structural inequality.  

Schmitt is the author of  “Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Crisis of Pedestrian Deaths in America.” The book sheds light on the underlying causes of this alarming crisis in which more than 7,000 pedestrian fatalities have occurred on American streets — an astounding 70% increase since 2011. In Hawai‘i, 94 people died in traffic crashes last year, 30 of which were pedestrians and cyclists. Schmitt will discuss these incidents, which she argues are not random accidents, but are the result of systematic, structural inequalities deeply rooted in race and class.

With experience in both planning and newspaper reporting, Schmitt was the long-time national editor at Streetsblog and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Bicycling, GOOD, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and a number of other publications.

“We hope Angie will help us motivate even more action for making active transportation choices safer and help folks realize that how we talk about these topics matter,” said Kathleen Rooney, Ulupono Initiative’s director of transportation policy and programs. “With Angie’s unique background as a planner and reporter, she’ll also discuss what the media and other communications professionals can do to tell these important stories that help build community support for the necessary changes that make our community demonstrably safer.”

The public is invited to hear from Schmitt in-person on Sept. 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Hawai‘i Suite. The event is presented by the City and County of Honolulu’s Complete Streets program and sponsored by Ulupono Initiative.

Registration is required. Sign up here: Eventbrite