Insurance group calls for Amazon, FedEx and others to use more safety tech in delivery vans

Researchers are pointing to a dangerous element of the booming e-commerce home delivery business in America: vans.

Researchers are pointing to a dangerous element of the booming e-commerce home delivery business in America: vans. About half a million light vans are sold in the United States every year, with many of those going to companies like Amazon and FedEx. Used to deliver packages to people’s front doors all over America, they are also involved in their share of crashes, many of which could be avoided with readily available technologies. Vans like these are involved in an average of about 935,000 police-reported crashes each year, including 98,000 resulting in injuries and 3,600 resulting in deaths, according to research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a group funded by auto insurers. But there are ways to make these vans safer using technologies that are already widely available on everyday cars and SUVs. Light vans are those with a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 10,000 pounds. That means the van itself plus its occupants – including the driver – and all its cargo cannot weigh more than 10,000 pounds. Models include the Ford Transit, Ram ProMaster and Mercedes Sprinter. Since they are small and easily maneuverable with lots of cargo space they are commonly used for package delivery. The research suggests a lot of those crashes could be prevented if these vans were equipped with various types of crash prevention technology, some of which is commonly available on passenger cars.