Recent research has shed light on a concerning aspect of the flourishing e-commerce home delivery industry in the United States: the safety of vans used for package delivery. With approximately half a million light vans sold annually in the U.S., many of which are utilized by companies like Amazon and FedEx, there is a pressing need to address the high number of crashes involving these vehicles.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), light vans are involved in an average of 935,000 police-reported crashes each year, resulting in 98,000 injuries and 3,600 deaths. However, the implementation of existing technologies commonly found in passenger cars could significantly enhance the safety of these vans.
Key technologies that could prevent or mitigate crashes include front crash prevention systems such as automatic emergency braking, which could have potentially averted around 20% of fatal crashes involving light vans. Lane departure prevention technology is another crucial feature that could have reduced the severity of approximately 11% of fatal crashes.
Despite the widespread availability of these safety technologies in passenger vehicles, they are relatively rare in light vans like the Ford Transit, Ram ProMaster, and Mercedes Sprinter. However, some automakers are already incorporating safety features such as forward collision warning, automatic braking, blind spot warning, and speed limiting controls in their vans.
Companies like Amazon have taken proactive measures by equipping their branded delivery vans with third-party technology that monitors unsafe driving behaviors, resulting in a significant reduction in collision rates and unsafe driving incidents. Additionally, technologies aimed at curbing speeding, such as automatic speed limiting controls, could potentially prevent 37% of fatal crashes involving delivery vans.
Furthermore, pedestrian safety could be significantly improved with the implementation of automatic emergency braking systems with pedestrian detection, which have the potential to prevent 1,200 light van crashes involving pedestrians annually.
It is evident that the integration of advanced safety technologies in e-commerce delivery vans not only benefits van drivers but also enhances the safety of other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and occupants of other vehicles. By prioritizing the adoption of crash prevention technologies, the e-commerce industry can make significant strides towards reducing the frequency and severity of crashes involving light vans.
