Andrew Rundle

Our latest research, just published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests that higher levels of tree canopy cover helps prevent injurious pedestrian falls. The research found that during summer months, locations on streets and sidewalks where pedestrians fell and suffered an injury were less likely to be shaded by trees than matched control locations.  Indoor falls have been well studied and there are multiple sets of guidelines to prevent these falls.

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We have completed a series of studies showing that neighborhood access to small and medium size retail businesses that provide for community member’s living needs – the goods and services we need to function, live and thrive, such as banks, supermarkets, drug stores, gyms, corner markets – is associated with better health.  Nearby access to such businesses in a residential neighborhood is associated with greater engagement in walking and active transport to complete living needs like shopping, banking and socializing, which increases overall physical activity. 

Our recent paper highlights an often-overlooked aspect of pedestrian safety: the role alcohol and drug use play in falls that occur outdoors, particularly on streets and sidewalks. We used data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS), which collects and standardizes data from EMS agencies across the USA, to describe the prevalence of drug and alcohol use among falls requiring EMS response.

Our work on pedestrian safety is an extension of our work on how urban design can be used to support engagement in pedestrian activity and physical activity. As we have built our portfolio of pedestrian injury research, we have come to realize that alcohol use by the injured individual is a common thread for injuries to pedestrians caused by falls and motor vehicles and for injuries to users of micromobility devices (e.g.

Continuing our collaboration with the NYU Women’s Health Study team (see here) to understand how neighborhood walkability affects chronic disease risk, we recently published a paper showing that higher walkability is associated with lower diabetes risk.  Among 11,037 women free of diabetes at baseline and followed for a median of 25.6 years, a higher average annual neighborhood walkability index score for the women's residential neighborhoods was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing diabetes.