Families for Safe Streets feat. Amy Cohen and Patty Avery

To kick off Season 10 of the Podcast, I have a conversation with Amy Cohen and Patty Avery, two dedicated volunteers with the Families for Safe Streets organization, about how this national initiative is taking bold steps to confront the epidemic of traffic violence and change the narrative surrounding the preventable casualties of motor vehicle crashes on our streets, including policies to address the built environment and deal with the egregious of speeders and reckless drivers causing a significant amount of carnage in our communities.

Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for video content.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 Families for Safe Streets
👉 Transportation Alternatives
👉 There Are No Accidents episode
👉 Reclaiming the Right of Way by Angie Schmidt
👉 Speed Limiters page
👉 Stop Super Speeders America Walks
👉 World Day of Remembrance
👉 It Could Be Me
👉 The White Line: Changing Driver Behavior
👉 The Vision Zero Network
👉 What is Daylighting video from Streetfilms
👉 FFSS Story Map

If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Become an Active Towns Member on YouTube for exclusive member-only content and Livestreams
2. Join the Active Towns Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
3. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
4. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities

Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list

For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter

Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 35 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010,  I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2025