You’ve probably noticed that there are far more delivery vans driving around your neighborhood than a decade ago. The appetite for home delivery has grown massively and with it has come a lot more traffic. Instead of a few trucks supplying the neighborhood stores, you now have many of these smaller vehicles delivering directly to people’s doors.
One of the many trade-offs this brings is an increased risk of injury. Here is why:
Pressure to deliver
These drivers work on tight schedules. As they are generally poorly paid, they also tend to work long hours. That can lead to dangerous dips in concentration which no driver can afford. It might also tempt them to speed on their way to deliveries to make up for any delays or lost time.
Parking issues
Another problem is that their schedules are such that they do not always have time to park up in a nice safe place and then walk to the door they are delivering at. Instead, they tend to pull up on the curb or stop on the side of the road with their hazards on, creating problems for pedestrians on the sidewalks and drivers and cyclists trying to see around them on the road.
Last-minute maneuvers
The drivers won’t know many of the roads they are taking so rely on satnavs which can sometimes send them the wrong way down a one-way street. Not everyone’s house number is clear to see from a distance either. They may be more focused on the search for the house number than the traffic around them then stop suddenly when they find it.
Inexperienced drivers
It is far easier to become a van driver than a semi-truck driver. There is less training involved so the quality of driving is often poor.
If a delivery driver injures you, you’ll want to learn more about your legal options so that you can recover your losses.
