The idea of a ‘Week Without Driving‘ started with Disability Rights Washington (state) and for its first three years was just a state, and particularly Seattle, focused program. This year, Disability Rights WA is partnering with America Walks to take the program nationally. National Week Without Driving will be offered October 2-8, 2023.

From the Disability Rights webpage: “If you can drive or afford a car, you may not understand what it’s like to rely on walking, rolling, transit and asking for rides. But for nearly a third of people living in the United States – people with disabilities, young people, seniors and people who can’t afford cars or gas – this is our every day.  We created the Week Without Driving challenge so that policy makers, elected leaders and transportation professionals can begin to understand the barriers nondrivers experience in accessing our communities.“

Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) has made the WWD pledge (below). We are working on partnerships with other transit, walking and bicycling organizations to really promote the program in our region. If we end up doing it alone, we will just be working to interest SacRT board members, since that is all the capacity we have. But the more partners, the more hands, we can widen our reach to many other elected officials, and staff with responsibility in transportation, and just plain people.

If you would like to be part of STAR’s efforts, please get in touch (allisondan52@gmail.com). If you are an organization representative that wants to partner with STAR, please get in touch. If you are an elected official who wants to participate, please check back with us once we determine our partners and see what our capacity is.

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As a host of the National #WeekWithoutDriving Challenge 2023, we understand and commits to the following principles: 

• We believe the knowledge and expertise reflected in the lived experiences of nondrivers must be incorporated into the way our government funds, builds, and operates the transportation system. We know that those of us who don’t have the privilege of driving deserve sidewalks, streets and public transit systems that actually work for us.
• Black and Native American people, immigrants, poor people and disabled people are much less likely to have access to a vehicle. Understanding how our communities work or don’t work for us is a matter of racial, economic and disability justice.
• The National Week Without Driving (NWWD) isn’t a disability simulation or a test of how easily you can find alternatives. We know that it is far easier to give up your keys if you can afford to live in a walkable area well served by transit, or can outsource your driving and other transport and delivery needs to other people. Having to drive during the challenge does not signify failure. The goal is to consider how someone without that option would have coped, and what choices they might have made. 

Further, we agree to the following guidelines for participating organizations: 

• Send an organizational representative to participate in regular (1-2x per month) National #WeekWithoutDriving meetings hosted by America Walks to connect our understanding of mobility justice and to share templates, toolkits and organizing tips for a successful challenge. 
• Amplify the National #WeekWithoutDriving challenge Oct 2-8, 2023. We strongly encourage groups to hold their #WeekWithoutDriving challenge during the same week, but understand that some groups may need to shift the week to accommodate local events. 
• Track local registrations for WWD and create an additional count for participation of elected leaders and other public officials. Share these counts with the national organizing committee in advance of and throughout the challenge week. 
• Be available to connect local participants to national media with support from the national organizing committee.
• Be available to connect local participants to a video production team hired by the national organizing committee to create video content from the week. 
• Participate in a debrief and lessons-learned conversation with the national organizing committee in November 2023.

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