Our conversation with Angie Schmitt: watch the recording

Journalist Angie Schmitt’s new book, Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America, is a must-read. It’s a fascinating and maddening look at why pedestrians are dying in record numbers – and how we can turn things around.

I started following Angie on Twitter soon after I started working at Walk San Francisco (follow her!). She quickly became my North Star on these issues. Angie doesn’t mince words when it comes to all the ways the deck is systemically stacked against pedestrians, especially if those pedestrians are Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, immigrants, poor, seniors, or children. 

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to get to talk with Angie as part of an event we co-hosted with SPUR and Island Press. You can watch a recording of the conversation, which covered a lot of ground.

Walk SF’s advocacy is focused on winning streets that are designed and enforced to make all of us safe while walking here in San Francisco. But the conversation with Angie brought up important questions about the role of federal vehicle standards, as well as the rise of automated pedestrian detection systems. These are areas Walk SF hopes to work more on in the future; we need to protect pedestrians in every possible way.

Are you a Walk SF member? Power our work to make San Francisco the most pedestrian-friendly city in the United States by becoming a member now!