Undriving and Undriver Licensing

We are Undriving Ballard and beyond, issuing Undriver Licenses to people who make a pledge to reduce their car use.

Our Undriver Licensing Station opened its tentflaps at the 4th Annual Sustainable Ballard Festival, September 29-30, 2007, and is now appearing at events all over the region.  To get an Undriver License, people just need to make a pledge to UNDRIVE in the coming month, in a way that works for them. Here’s what we ask them to do, and so far over 2,700 people of all ages have responded, creatively and enthusiastically:

“Challenge yourself to try on a new way of getting around for a specific activity you’d normally drive to. Get curious! How necessary is a car for each of the trips you take? (Or maybe you don’t have a car. How could you reduce your car use or influence others?) Many Undrivers have discovered the many benefits of Undriving, some of them surprising: fresh air, exercise, community connections, saving money, less stress, even more time.”

“BE CREATIVE! Take the Undriving Challenge. Make a pledge that’s do-able but also a stretch, then try it out and see what you discover. Here are some thought-starters for you:

• Limit your driving to 50 or 100 miles for the month
• Commit to not driving on Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Bike to work three days a week
• Form a carpool to get to church or a regular meeting
• Start a Walking School Bus to get the kids to school
• Get a bike trailer for cargo or kids
• Walk to the grocery store with a rolling cart
• Combine errands with dog-walks
• If you are already a committed Undriver, there’s always more you can do: consider pledging to not RIDE in cars for the month, or not accept rides when someone is going out of their way to pick you up, or to share your experiences as an Undriver with friends and co-workers and encourage them to make their own pledge.  One Undriver pledged to teach an adult how to ride a bike!”

Our Undriving Advisors are on hand to help people shape their pledges, and Cascade Bicycle Club supports Undrivers with route-finding and bicycle safety information. Licensed Undrivers receive free bus tickets courtesy of King County METRO, and information on local Undriving options. Undrivers choose their own license “Undorsements,” and we have lots of fun props on hand to allow personal expression for License photos - Viking hat, propeller beanie, bicycle helmet, even a crown - as well as props that demonstrate their Undriving choices (a toy bus, bike, train, etc.)

A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY:

With the playfulness of an Undriver License, we are engaging people to consider their car use patterns in a new light, to challenge an assumption by trying something different of their own devising, and perhaps to discover that there’s a better way of getting from here to there for one thing they do.

Our Undriver Licenses can remind us of our pledges, awaken us to seeing new possibilities, and invite us to explore what else we can do to lighten the impact of our transportation choices. Each License is like a stone landing in a pond - who knows where the ripples will go and who they will touch!

It’s been our experience that one change leads to another, and another. (Some Undrivers have come to the point of selling their car, or changing jobs to be closer to work!) As we make different transportation choices, we are also likely to stumble into reconsidering other daily choices: looking anew at what we eat, how it’s produced, and where it comes from; how we might reduce our home energy use; how we can increase community and reduce consumption; etc. This snowballing and ever-evolving process of coming to live more sustainably is energizing and empowering! When we share our experiences and discoveries, we inspire others dip their toes into the same adventure. We hope that Undriving becomes incredibly infectious. We are all in this together!

ON THE ROAD WITH UNDRIVING:

We hope to start a national, even international, Undriving movement!  If you are interested in hosting or sponsoring the Undriver Licensing Station or incorporating Undriver Licensing into your program, please contact Julia Field, Undriving Founder/Program Director.

UNDRIVER LICENSING PROCESS:

September, 2007:  Undriver Licensing got off and running with the use equipment that was generously loaned to us by the King County Police Union’s My ID Card program, which issues ID cards for kids and seniors as a public service at festivals around the region.  Our heartfelt thanks!  Here’s what our original licenses looked like (produced on the spot using an obsolete Polaroid camera that takes 4 pictures on a sheet of instant film, and a laminator):

Spring, 2008:  With the support of a grant from a family foundation, we were able to purchase our own license-making equipment - and we entered the digital age, with a modified corporate ID card-making system through Polaroid Commercial ID Systems. Our second-generation Undriver Licenses, also created on the spot with a laptop, webcam, signature pad, and card printer, look like this:

Spring, 2009:  At Seattle Green Festival at the WA State Convention Center, we premiered our latest Undriver Licensing innovation:  we can now photograph Undrivers interacting with our dynamic new Big Undriver Licenses (with dry-erase finish).  Undrivers (solo or in groups) write on the licenses’ dry-erase finish, on the license, and then pose with Undriving props of their choosing, popping out of the Big License.  Thanks to BigInk and Polaroid Commercial ID Systems for their enormous contributions to this latest innovation.  Here’s what our third-generation Undriver Licenses look like (printed directly to the card printer):

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