Large Vans Research Articles

Managing the road safety risks of last mile deliveries: Do telematics have a role to play?

Objective The research aimed to understand the impact of telematics in reducing traffic violations and crashes among drivers working in parcel delivery and the perceived utility, effectiveness, and acceptability of telematics among drivers using them. The objective was to carry out an online survey among drivers who have telematics versus drivers who do not and compare their behaviors in terms of risks and violations controlling for key demographics an exposure. Methods An online anonymous survey was conducted of 780 home delivery drivers of which 430 used telematics in 2022. The survey was conducted by a fieldwork company and participants were compensated for their time. Univariate and multivariate analysis was conducted on the data. Results Telematics users did not report less crashes than drivers who did not use telematics. Most drivers, irrespective of telematics use agreed that the time pressure of delivery work increased speed limit violations and unsafe or hazardous parking. Multivariate analysis indicated that damage collisions for all drivers were associated with factors such as, driving medium to large vans, hazardous behavior related to parking, and having penalties for violations, especially related to speed. Delivery drivers, while generally facing pressure to speed and take risks to meet delivery schedules, did perceive telematics as a tool for safety enhancement and information dissemination, as well as for the management of performance. Non-telematics users viewed it with skepticism. Conclusions Telematics alone may not ensure the safety of last-mile deliveries and could potentially increase the pressure of deliveries. This research underscores the need for a holistic approach to road safety in the home delivery sector, combining telematics technology with a proactive safety culture.

Relationship of pedestrian crash types and passenger vehicle types

Introduction: This is the first known study that examines the association between common pedestrian crash types and passenger vehicle types. Method: The analysis included single-vehicle, single-pedestrian crashes from two data sets: North Carolina state crash data and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). We performed separate multinomial logistic regression analyses of major pedestrian crash types occurring at or near intersections and at nonintersections. Results: At or near intersections, minivans, large vans, pickups, and SUVs (collectively known as light truck vehicles, or LTVs) were more likely than cars to be involved in crossing-roadway–vehicle-turning-left crashes versus crossing-roadway–vehicle-not-turning crashes. LTVs were also more likely involved in fatal crossing-roadway–vehicle-turning-right crashes at or near intersections versus crossing-roadway–vehicle-not-turning crashes when compared with cars. At nonintersections, LTVs were associated with increased odds of walking-along-roadway crashes relative to crossing-roadway–vehicle-not-turning crashes when compared with cars. Conclusions: LTVs were more likely to be involved in certain pedestrian crash types, implying a potentially problematic visibility of pedestrians near the front corners of these vehicles. Practical applications: More research is needed to examine A-pillar blind zones by vehicle type. If it is found that LTVs have larger blind zones, automakers should consider ways to design the A-pillars of these vehicles to minimize blind zones while maintaining pillar strength. Doing this could improve pedestrian safety around these increasingly popular larger vehicles.

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Last-Mile Parcel Delivery by Automated Vehicles and Robots.

Increased E-commerce and demand for contactless delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled interest in robotic package delivery. We evaluate life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for automated suburban ground delivery systems consisting of a vehicle (last-mile) and a robot (final-50-feet). Small and large cargo vans (125 and 350 cubic feet; V125 and V350) with an internal combustion engine (ICEV) and battery electric (BEV) powertrains were assessed for three delivery scenarios: (i) conventional, human-driven vehicle with human delivery; (ii) partially automated, human-driven vehicle with robot delivery; and (iii) fully automated, connected automated vehicle (CAV) with robot delivery. The robot's contribution to life cycle GHG emissions is small (2-6%). Compared to the conventional scenario, full automation results in similar GHG emissions for the V350-ICEV but 10% higher for the V125-BEV. Conventional delivery with a V125-BEV provides the lowest GHG emissions, 167 g CO2e/package, while partially automated delivery with a V350-ICEV generates the most at 486 g CO2e/package. Fuel economy and delivery density are key parameters, and electrification of the vehicle and carbon intensity of the electricity have a large impact. CAV power requirements and efficiency benefits largely offset each other, and automation has a moderate impact on life cycle GHG emissions.

Effects of temperature on economic attractiveness and airborne emissions' external costs of large battery electric and diesel delivery vans

Past studies have shown that public support for battery electric (BEV) vans is justified by their emission external cost savings compared to their diesel equivalent. This study builds on this previous work and focuses on temperature effects on costs and energy use of large BEV and diesel vans. The authors find that temperature effect has relatively small private costs, when compared to the overall operational costs. However, it could reduce large BEV vans' average range by up to 20% in cold cities. Pre-heating the vans could mitigate these negative effects by 5-10%, 90-95% and 100% for 23.4, 46.8 and 70.2 kWh large BEV vans, respectively. Hence, policy makers should adopt different strategies according to city temperature profiles, prioritiz-ing subsidies to charging stations in cold cities.

From home delivery to parcel lockers: a case study in Amsterdam

E-commerce is still a strong growing segment with fierce competition among parcel delivery service providers. To stay ahead of the competitors innovation is necessary. Currently, parcels are being delivered with large delivery vans which will usually deliver single parcels to doorsteps of their customers. This so called ‘last mile delivery’ is the most expensive logistics activity. In the literature it is proposed that parcel lockers have high potential to save cost. In our paper a literature review on parcel lockers, 3 methods for analysis are described and the results of a case study are provided.

Dynamic Stability and Control of Tripped and Untripped Vehicle Rollover

Vehicle rollover accidents have been a serious safety problem for the last three decades. Although rollovers are a small percentage of all traffic accidents, they do account for a large proportion of severe and fatal injuries. Specifically, some large passenger vehicles, such as large vans, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles, are more prone to rollover accidents with a high center of gravity (CG) and narrow track width. Vehicle rollover accidents may be grouped into two categories: tripped and untripped rollovers. A tripped rollover commonly occurs when a vehicle skids and digs its tires into soft soil or hits a tripping mechanism such as a curb with a sufficiently large lateral velocity. On the other hand, the untripped rollover is induced by extreme maneuvers during critical driving situations, such as excessive speed during cornering, obstacle avoidance, and severe lane change maneuver. In these situations, the forces at the tire-road contact point are large enough to cause the vehicle to roll over. Furthermore, vehicle rollover may occur due to external disturbances such as side-wind and steering excitation. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the dynamic stability and control of tripped and untripped vehicle rollover so as to avoid vehicle rollover accidents. In this book, different dynamic models are used to describe the vehicle rollover under both untripped and special tripped situations. From the vehicle dynamics theory, rollover indices are deduced, and the dynamic stabilities of vehicle rollover are analyzed. In addition, some active control strategies are discussed to improve the anti-rollover performance of the vehicle.

Optimizing Biomass Feedstock Logistics for Forest Residue Processing and Transportation on a Tree-Shaped Road Network

An important task in forest residue recovery operations is to select the most cost-efficient feedstock logistics system for a given distribution of residue piles, road access, and available machinery. Notable considerations include inaccessibility of treatment units to large chip vans and frequent, long-distance mobilization of forestry equipment required to process dispersed residues. In this study, we present optimized biomass feedstock logistics on a tree-shaped road network that take into account the following options: (1) grinding residues at the site of treatment and forwarding ground residues either directly to bioenergy facility or to a concentration yard where they are transshipped to large chip vans, (2) forwarding residues to a concentration yard where they are stored and ground directly into chip vans, and (3) forwarding residues to a nearby grinder location and forwarding the ground materials. A mixed-integer programming model coupled with a network algorithm was developed to solve the problem. The model was applied to recovery operations on a study site in Colorado, USA, and the optimal solution reduced the cost of logistics up to 11% compared to the conventional system. This is an important result because this cost reduction propagates downstream through the biomass supply chain, reducing production costs for bioenergy and bioproducts.

Optimization of operational level transportation planning in forestry: a review

ABSTRACTTransportation of forest products accounts as a major contributor to the total operational costs; hence, its optimization has become an important aspect in supply chain planning. Transportation optimization at the operational level includes decisions related to product flow, storage, pre-processing, and routing and scheduling of vehicles. The decisions and constraints in the model depend on the type of product that is transported. Earlier review articles on forest transportation optimization focused only on log transportation, while in this review paper, products such as logs, biomass, pulp and furniture are considered and their similarities and differences are highlighted. Most of the previous studies focused on optimizing the total cost of transportation, while environmental aspects of truck routing and scheduling in forestry were not considered. Uncertainties in parameters such as supply and demand quantities and transportation time were not explored fully in the models. In addition to storage and truck routing and scheduling, considering pre-processing (e.g. sorting, grinding, blending, bucking) decisions at forest sites, satellite yards and the mills in the models could be done in future studies. It is important that aspects related to truck configuration, type and capacity be considered in the models as there is limited accessibility of large trucks such as large chip vans to forest sites. Management practices such as just-in-time production and vendor-managed inventory systems could be considered in forest supply chain planning. Using big data and business analytics techniques are other new trends that could improve decision-making related to logistics and transportation planning in forestry.

Suitability of commercial transport for a shift to electric mobility with Denmark and Germany as use cases

This paper identifies commercial sectors suitable for a shift to electric mobility in Denmark and Germany by analysing daily driving distance. The paper concludes that construction, human health and other service sectors are the most suitable sectors for electric mobility because many vehicles are registered in these sectors and daily mileage is reasonably low. They should be primary target groups of specific policy measures to promote the use of electric vehicles.Both Denmark and Germany have incentives to promote the use of electric vehicles. Nevertheless, electric vehicles do generally not show economic benefits unless travel distance is high. However, today the travel range of large vans is an important barrier for electrification due to battery weight and the limitation of 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight for driving with a normal driving licence. The rule needs amendments for electric vehicles, as has been done in Germany. The paper recommends EU countries follow the German rule allowing EVs up to 4.25 tonnes to be driven with a class B licence, thereby potentially creating a market for big vans with long travel range.

A84 Collisions between pedal cyclists and heavy vehicles: an in depth analysis of fatalities in London

Abstract Background Cycling is promoted in London to improve health and encourage more sustainable travel. However, the perceived safety of cycling is a major reason given by people not to cycle. Despites people’s concerns about the safety of cycling relatively few cyclists are injured and therefore there is limited information about the factors that contribute to their collisions. However, because of their severity, fatal collisions are subject to in-depth investigation by the police and provide an opportunity to learn more about causal factors. In London between 2007–2011 there were 79 fatal and life threatening collisions involving cyclists of which 53 were available for analysis. Over half of these fatal collisions involved heavy goods vehicles, large vans and buses. This paper presents findings of a systematic analysis of collisions involving cyclists and large, heavy vehicles focusing on the interaction between road users, infrastructure and vehicle characteristics and the implications for countermeasures. Methods The study involved a case review of 53 pedal cycle fatalities in London. The method involved six stages: • Formation of the expert research group • Data retrieval • Protocol development (check with stakeholder group for completeness of data sources) • Case collection and quality control (develop coding glossary) • Case reviews and countermeasure development • Linking countermeasure development to evidence of effectiveness Results The most common characteristics of the infrastructure associated with fatal collisions involving bicycles and heavy vehicles were the lack of integration of cycling facilities with the wider traffic environment and road narrowing. These characteristics created conflict points between cyclists and other vehicles. The most common vehicle characteristics associated with collisions were related to the driver’s vision of the cyclist and the cyclist being dragged under the wheels of vehicle. The most common characteristics of road user behaviour associated with collisions were the positioning of the cyclist in relation to vehicle where the cyclist typically moved forward to the left side of the truck whilst it was stationary or moving into position at a junction. This placed the cyclist in a zone of potential conflict with the vehicle where it was inherently more difficult for the truck driver to see the cyclist. Conclusions There is a paucity of evidence on the effectiveness on countermeasures to reduce collisions between cyclists and truck drivers. This study suggests that countermeasures should focus on reducing conflict points between road users, improving truck drivers vision of cyclists and training drivers and cyclists with regard to positioning especially at junctions.

Pedestrian Injury Outcome as a Function of Vehicle Market Group in Victoria, Australia

Objective: Pedestrians are among the most vulnerable road users in terms of their risk of serious injury when involved in a collision with a vehicle. In Australia, around 200 pedestrians are killed in road crashes annually and over 2,000 are seriously injured. The objective of the current study was to analyze pedestrian death and injury risk by body region across 10 light passenger and commercial vehicle market groups in Victoria, Australia.Methods: This study utilized police-reported crash data linked to insurance injury compensation claims data during the period 2001–2010 to determine whether pedestrian injury outcome is a function of colliding vehicle type. Logistic regression models were developed to measure the risk of pedestrian death or injury as a function of vehicle market group for 4 body region groupings, namely, all body regions; the head, face, or neck; the thorax; and the lower extremities (including pelvis).Results: Analysis focused on head, face, or neck injury found that pedestrians struck by small cars, people movers, large sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans, or utility vehicles had statistically significantly higher odds of death or injury compared to large cars. When the analysis focused on thoracic injury, it was again found that pedestrians struck by large SUVs and vans had statistically significantly higher odds of death injury compared to large cars. In particular, the odds of death or thoracic injury is 74.4% higher for large SUVs compared to large cars. Analysis focused on lower extremity injury found no market group with statistically significant different odds of death or injury compared to large cars at the 5% level; however, medium cars and vans were found to have statistically significantly lower odds of death or lower extremity injury at the 10% level.Conclusions: The results suggest that the increasing popularity of vehicles such as SUVs has the potential to lead to an increase in the level of pedestrian road trauma. With the general trend toward the use of larger vehicles, the results provide validation of the importance of improved vehicle design and the incorporation of new pedestrian safety features.

Conventional, Hybrid, or Electric Vehicles: Which Technology for an Urban Distribution Centre?

Freight transport has an important impact on urban welfare. It is estimated to be responsible for 25% of CO2 emissions and up to 50% of particles matters generated by the transport sector in cities. Facing that problem, the European Commission set the objective of reaching free CO2 city logistics by 2030 in major urban areas. In order to achieve this goal, electric vehicles could be an important part of the solution. However, this technology still faces a number of barriers, in particular high purchase costs and limited driving range. This paper explores the possible integration of electric vehicles in urban logistics operations. In order to answer this research question, the authors have developed a fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows for electric vehicles. In particular, an energy consumption model is integrated in order to consider variable range of electric vehicles. Based on generated instances, the authors analyse different sets of vehicles in terms of vehicle class (quadricycles, small vans, large vans, and trucks) and vehicle technology (petrol, hybrid, diesel, and electric vehicles). Results show that a fleet with different technologies has the opportunity of reducing costs of the last mile.

A Productivity and Cost Comparison of Two Systems for Producing Biomass Fuel from Roadside Forest Treatment Residues

Abstract Forest operations generate large quantities of forest biomass residues that can be used for production of bioenergy and bioproducts. However, a significant portion of recoverable residues are inaccessible to large chip vans, making use financially infeasible. New production systems must be developed to increase productivity and reduce costs to facilitate use of these materials. We present a comparison of two alternative systems to produce biomass fuel (i.e., “hog fuel”) from forest residues that are inaccessible to chip vans: (1) forwarding residues in fifth-wheel end-dump trailers to a concentration yard, where they can be stored and then ground directly into chip vans, and (2) grinding residues on the treatment unit and forwarding the hog fuel in high-sided dump trucks to a concentration yard, where it can be stored and then reloaded into chip vans using a front-end loader. To quantify the productivity and costs of these systems, work study data were collected for both systems on the same treatment unit in northern Idaho in July 2009. With standard machine rate calculations, the observed costs from roadside to loaded chip van were $23.62 per bone dry ton (BDT) for slash forwarding and $24.52 BDT−1 for in-woods grinding. Results indicate that for harvest units with conditions similar to the test area, slash forwarding is most appropriate for sites with dispersed residues and long-distance in-woods grinder mobilization. For sites with densely piled roadside residues, in-wood grinding is likely to be a more productive and less costly option for residue recovery.

Commentary: Supersized vans: A supersized problem

Commentary: Supersized vans: A supersized problem

Sales and Impact of Class 2b Trucks

Vehicles in the upper portion of the Class 2 weight range [6,000 to 10,000 lb gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR)] were identified and examined, and their impact was assessed. Class 2b vehicles (GVWR of 8,500 to 10,000 lb) include pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and large vans. Oak Ridge National Laboratory researched each individual truck model to determine which models were Class 2b trucks and developed four methodologies to derive sales volumes. Two methods were recommended for producing believable and reliable results. The results of the study indicate that in calendar year 1999, 521,000 Class 2b vehicles (6.4% of sales of all trucks under 10,000 lb) were sold; 82% of Class 2b vehicles sold were pickups, and one-third of Class 2b vehicles sold had diesel engines. In 2000, 5.8 million Class 2b vehicles (7.8% of all trucks under 10,000 lb) were on the road; 24% of the Class 2b vehicle population had diesel engines, and Class 2b vehicles accounted for 8% of annual miles traveled by trucks under 10,000 lb and 9% of fuel use. Data on Class 2b vehicles are scarce. As the Tier 2 standards (which apply to passenger vehicles in the 8,500 to 10,000 lb GVWR category) become effective, additional data—not only about emissions, but also about all areas—on Class 2b vehicles may become available. At the moment, distinguishing Class 2b vehicles from all Class 2 vehicles is a substantial task that requires individual model data.

Insulin-treated diabetes and driving in the UK.

Diabetes, and particularly insulin-treated diabetes, has important implications for motor vehicle driving, largely because of its association with potential hypoglycaemia. For this reason, most countries operate some driving restrictions on insulin-treated diabetic patients, as well as systems of intermittent reassessment of hypoglycaemic risk. In the UK, regulations are operated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which is an agency of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). They are supported by an Expert Panel which advises the Secretary of State on diabetes-related issues relating to fitness to drive. The patient organization Diabetes UK is also concerned with diabetes and driving issues, largely from a position of lobbying policy-influencers and supporting individual cases. All parties involved with diabetes and driving issues recognize the need for more research on the subject, as the current literature is flawed in design, though no convincing excess of accidents amongst diabetic drivers has been conclusively demonstrated. Currently in the UK, Class 2 vehicles (large trucks and passenger vehicles) are barred to diabetic drivers on insulin. European law has recently extended this to so-called C1 (large vans and small lorries) and D1 (minibuses) vehicles, though the law has recently been revised to allow individual consideration for potential diabetic C1 drivers on insulin treatment. Diabetes and insulin-treated diabetes is an emotive and difficult issue, for which a stronger evidence base is urgently needed.

Factors associated with restraint use of children in fatal crashes.

This study was designed to characterize the restraint use of children in fatal crashes and to determine factors that were related to child restraint use. Crashes in which a vehicle occupant died were selected from the 1994 Fatal Analysis Reporting System data. Restraint use of children (0-9 years) in these crashes was characterized and examined in relation to vehicle and driver characteristics. Restraint use declined with increasing age of children and increasing number of occupants. Restraint use was also lower in older vehicles, in pickups and large vans, between 3 AM and 6 AM, and in rural areas. Driver characteristics associated with lower restraint use of child passengers included unrestrained drivers, younger drivers, and alcohol use at the time of crash. Driver restraint use was the strongest predictor of child restraint use. Differences in restraint use by age of the child, number of occupants, time, urban/rural area, and driver restraint use persisted in a logistic model. Restraint use in crashes is substantially lower than that in observational studies, suggesting that these studies are not reflective of high-risk conditions for crashes in which children are involved. Child occupant protection counseling must stress restraint use under all conditions of travel. Local, state, and national efforts must be aimed at increasing family occupant protection for the entire family.

Impacts of electric vehicles on primary energy consumption and petroleum displacement

We analyze the impact of the use of electric vehicles (EVs) on energy consumption in general and on petroleum consumption in particular. The analysis has been conducted for sub-compact cars, small vans, and large vans and for the years 1995 and 2010. The comparison of per-mile primary energy consumption of EVs with that of gasoline-powered internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) was conducted for four primary energy sources: petroleum, coal, natural gas (NG), and biomass. When petroleum, NG, or biomass is the primary energy source, EVs with current technology will consume more energy per mile than ICEVs, but EVs with advanced technology will consume less. If coal is the primary energy source, both current- and advanced-technology EVs will consume less energy than ICEVs. The petroleum displacement by EVs was estimated for different cases of fuel mix for electricity generation. In many areas of the U.S., the use of EVs will reduce per-mile petroleum use by over 90%, because the vast majority of electricity is generated from non-petroleum fuels. In areas where a relatively large portion of electricity is generated from petroleum (such as New York), the use of EVs will reduce per-mile petroleum use by 65%.

A study of vehicle factors related to type and severity of pedestrian injury

An estimated 188,000 pedestrian accidents are reported each year involving about 8000 fatalities. The peak age group for pedestrian fatalities includes children aged 4-8, but there is a strong second peak among youth aged 16-21. Males are two-and-a-half times as likely as females to be killed in pedestrian accidents. This study used police-reported pedestrian accidents in New York State for 1978-79 and in Pennsylvania for 1979 to try to identify vehicle factors which relate to the severity or body location of pedestrian injury. It was found that large trucks, pickups, and vans are more likely to kill the pedestrian than are passenger cars, but within passenger cars there was no direct relationship between vehicle weight and injury severity. In a detailed comparison of passenger car front-end configurations the most meaningful finding was a decrease in child injury severity with a greater horizontal slope from the bumper edge to the above-bumper contact point. Further study of this and other front-end styling variations need to be tested under controlled conditions in the laboratory.