Managing the road safety risks of last mile deliveries with telematics: Views among drivers and managers in the UK

Background

Parcel delivery drivers work under significant time pressures and admit to violating speed limits to get the job done. Telematics presents a promising avenue for mitigating these risks, yet its road safety impacts in the home delivery sector remains underexplored. This research explored the use of telematics to monitor speeding among home delivery drivers.

Methods

In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 fleet managers who used telematics and 39 delivery drivers, half using telematics. Template analysis was used to codify the data and verbatim quotes were used to illustrate themes.

Results

Managers emphasised the financial benefits derived from telematics, with safety considerations being secondary. Technology difficulties were also highlighted. Drivers who used telematics, still faced pressure to take risks to meet schedules, but believed telematics helped prevent speeding. Non-telematics users viewed telematics with scepticism.

Conclusions

Managers and drivers using telematics considered them a useful tool in managing road safety. Recommendations include making telematics easier to use, sharing data with drivers and using it to praise and reward safe driving. It is argued that work related road safety needs to be monitored nationally via in depth analysis of fatal and serious incidents involving delivery drivers.