Online shopping has become a nearly universal practice. Even people who don’t frequently use electronics may make purchases from large online retailers. The delivery of individual purchases combined with the shipping of individual packages, like birthday presents or holiday gifts, leads to thousands of commercial vehicle deliveries in Missouri every day.
Some companies have their own fleet of delivery vehicles or hire independent contractors. Others rely on established, national delivery companies. With more delivery vehicles out on the road, people will have more risk of getting into a crash.
How do delivery vehicles, with drivers who often have more training than the average driver, contribute to people’s risk on the road?
Delivery drivers often park in unsafe places
A delivery driver will leave a warehouse with a vehicle loaded with hundreds of boxes and will have to follow a pre-planned route making those deliveries as quickly as possible.
Circling around to find legal and safe parking would drastically increase how long it takes delivery drivers to deliver each individual delivery, so they will frequently park their vehicles in a lane of traffic or even right around a blind curve because they don’t have the time to move somewhere else even though it would be a safer place to park.
Delivery drivers often don’t know the streets
You might think that driving through an area day after day would make someone very familiar with the local roads. However, when the route you drive is different every day because of delivery logistics, actually learning the roads takes longer.
Additionally, drivers have to follow routes based on where they have to drop off packages, which means they have to consistently refer to their navigation systems throughout their shifts. Navigation systems are a source of distraction, and drivers who missed turns or make other navigational mistakes may perform unpredictable and dangerous maneuvers.
Delivery drivers may feel exhausted by the end of a shift
With hundreds of packages that they have to deliver and a theoretical restraint on how many hours they can drive, delivery professionals are under constant stress at work.
They will likely put in very long shifts that cause emotional and mental stress while also demanding that they move quickly with their bodies and occasionally lift very heavy packages. Exhaustion can impact someone’s decision-making ability or even lead to them falling asleep at the wheel.
Recognizing the risks posed by delivery vehicles will help you avoid causing a motor vehicle collision because you can’t stop in time or avoid a frantic maneuver.
