Home Menu Search

From the internet to the street: the impact of e-commerce

22 February 2023

A study by VIAS has investigated the road safety impacts of parcel deliveries in Belgium.

The increased access to the internet has facilitated the trade of goods or services ordered online called e-commerce. E-commerce is a rapidly evolving sector. With 94% of Belgian inhabitants having access to the internet, 80%  of them are e-shoppers. Additionally, 7 in 10 Belgians shopped at least once to up to five times during the past three months from the survey conducted in 2021 by EUROSTAT1. Belgium is the 29th largest market in the world for e-commerce with a turnover of 11.7 billion euros in 2021. This is a 33% growth compared to the previous year (2020) showing the gradual and stable growth of this sector in Belgium2.

Despite the growth in the total vehicle fleet of vans (≤ 3.5 tonnes), the number of crashes in Belgium has dropped for all transport modes (-20%) and a similar decreasing trend was observed in the number of crashes with vans (-13.5%) between 2017 and 2020. However, the company-owned vans were involved in more road crashes with vulnerable road users than privately-owned vans, in particular, cyclists (16% vs. 12% of the number of victims in 2022). This value grew in recent years for cyclists (11% in 2017 vs. 16% in 2020) and remained almost the same (5% in both 2017 and 2020) for pedestrians, despite a sharp decline with most motorized vehicles.

Related news, events and information

Driving for Better Business campaign aims to cut work related injury rates on UK roads

24 July 2007 – Choosing ESC is a simple and vital step for business, says RoadSafe. RoadSafe has unveiled the latest...

Euro NCAP releases new Commercial Van ratings for 2023

3 March 2023 – In 2021 Euro NCAP launched the Commercial Van Safety Rating to improve safety information for fleet managers...

Landmark study reveals driving for work death toll

9 December 2020 – A new report by Heather Ward and Nicola Christie from UCL Driving for work A strategic review of risks...

The Role of Business Drivers

5 February 2020 – In its recent white paper The Role of Business Drivers, IAM RoadSmart examines the factors that influence...

Excellence in Road Safety Awards

3 November 2023 – The European Commission has announced the 2023 Excellence in Road Safety Awards. The awards recognise the best...

The International Transport Forum's Road Safety Annual Report 2020

27 October 2020 – The International Transport Forum's Road Safety Annual Report 2020 is now available. It provides an overview of...

Recommendations on Safety of E-scooters

3 March 2023 – European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS)...

DriverMetrics: ‘Multi-drop Delivery Driving: What are the risks?’

10 March 2021 – DriverMetrics has published a white paper addressing the risks associated with multi-drop delivery...

School streets: putting children and the planet first

2 May 2022 – 'School streets' schemes have increased five-fold in less than four years and deliver low-cost interventions...