Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's affiliated Samsung Transportation Safety Culture Research Institute report on 'The Actual Conditions and Prevention Measures of Early Morning Delivery Truck Traffic Accidents'
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] As the dawn delivery market grows, traffic accidents involving delivery vehicles during late-night hours have surged.
On the 24th, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's affiliated Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute released a report titled "Current Status and Prevention Measures of Traffic Accidents Involving Dawn Delivery Cargo Trucks," analyzing accidents involving commercial 1-ton cargo trucks reported to Samsung Fire from 2017 to June of this year that occurred during late-night hours (23:00?06:00).
The dawn delivery market, which started service in 2015, is estimated to reach about 1.5 trillion KRW this year due to factors such as the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the entry of large corporations, projecting approximately 150-fold growth in five years.
Accordingly, traffic accidents involving delivery vehicles have also surged. The number of commercial cargo truck accidents occurring during late-night hours was 1,337 in 2019, about nine times higher than the 150 cases in 2017. In the first half of this year, 1,668 accidents occurred, approximately 3.3 times more than the 509 cases in 2019.
Among accident types during late-night hours, vehicle-to-vehicle collisions accounted for 60.5%, the highest proportion. Notably, single-vehicle accidents accounted for 36.5%, which is 8.9 percentage points higher than the 27.6% during daytime hours.
The high rate of single-vehicle accidents is attributed to the fact that box trucks have high cargo beds and wide turning radii, leading to frequent collisions with surrounding structures when passing through narrow alleys or forcibly entering underground parking lots with low clearance.
The age distribution of drivers involved in late-night accidents shows that those in their 20s and 30s account for about 70%, representing the majority. This is closely related to the physical burden characteristic of late-night delivery, resulting in a relatively higher number of workers in their 20s and 30s.
In particular, younger drivers tend to have less driving experience. Box trucks, which are more difficult to drive than general cargo trucks, are rarely personally purchased, limiting opportunities for driving practice. Therefore, inexperienced drivers are more likely to cause accidents due to lack of skill.
The report pointed out that to prevent traffic accidents involving dawn delivery cargo trucks, it is necessary to first strengthen vehicle safety equipment installation standards and tighten qualification criteria for commercial cargo truck workers.
Jeon Je-ho, lead researcher at the Samsung Traffic Safety Culture Research Institute, said, "Considering the characteristics of frequent single-vehicle accidents and accidents during parking and stopping, it is necessary to mandate the installation of rearview cameras on cargo trucks with cargo beds, strengthen the driver's license requirements for commercial cargo truck workers from Class 2 ordinary to Class 1 ordinary or higher, and expand practical traffic safety education."
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