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Urban freight and road safety in the era of e-commerce

Abstract Objective: E-commerce has increased freight volumes and shifted freight vehicles to local streets and arterials. These changes have caused increasing concern over traffic safety in urban areas, but there has been limited investigation of road safety impacts. To advance understanding of this issue, we examined recent trends in urban freight-related safety in the United States and characteristics of these crashes. Methods: We estimated annual rates of fatal and nonfatal urban freight-related injuries from 2005 through 2015 using data from the NHTSA’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System and National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System. We compared trends in fatal and nonfatal urban freight-related injuries, stratified by road type (interstate vs. not), to overall crash injury trends. We used piecewise linear regression models to test trend changes. We examined and compared specific crash and injury characteristics associated with urban freight-involved crashes, compared to other types of crashes, for the most recent year of data analyzed. Results: Though freight and overall crash fatality rates per vehicle mile traveled declined between 2005 and 2009, increases were observed between 2009 and 2015. Fatality rates increased 3% for all vehicle crashes, 17% for urban freight-involved crashes, and 15% for urban freight-involved crashes not occurring on interstates. Nonfatal injury rates for urban freight-involved crashes rose even more rapidly between 2009 and 2015. Nonfatal injury rates for urban freight-involved crashes increased 45%, rates for urban freight-involved crashes not occurring on interstates increased 40%, and overall nonfatal injury rates for all vehicle crashes increased 3% during this time. Of all urban freight-related crashes resulting in nonfatal injury, the proportion occurring on non-interstate roads increased from 17% to 25% between 2005 and 2015, and these crashes were more likely to occur on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., when freight demand is high, than weekends or evenings. Conclusions: Freight-involved injury and fatality rates are rising more rapidly than overall road traffic–related rates, both in all areas and in urban areas. These crashes are also increasingly occurring on local roads and arterials as opposed to interstates. These findings can help policymakers better understand the changing patterns of freight-related safety issues. As freight volumes increase in commercial and residential areas, planners must increasingly consider freight needs and ensure that space is allocated to this function. Additionally, changes to surveillance systems are necessary to better track burden and risk factors associated with these crashes and inform crash prevention efforts.