Delivery-related road traffic crashes among food delivery riders in six Chinese cities: a multicentre cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Food delivery riders are a rapidly growing workforce in urban China and are exposed to road traffic injury risks during daily work. Multicity evidence on delivery-related road traffic crashes in this population remains limited. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 2,386 food delivery riders registered on the Meituan or Eleme platforms in six Chinese cities: Hefei, Jinan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou, and Nanning. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, work-related conditions, road safety knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, and self-reported delivery-related road traffic crashes in the past year. The overall prevalence of delivery-related road traffic crashes was 13.83%, with marked variation across cities, ranging from 6.85% in Shantou to 21.38% in Hefei. In bivariate analyses, crash involvement differed by selected sociodemographic and work-related characteristics, including marital status, monthly income, regular vehicle maintenance, work experience, daily order volume, and daily delivery distance. These findings describe multicity patterns of delivery-related road traffic crashes among food delivery riders and highlight areas for future injury prevention research, including workload management, vehicle maintenance, rider training, and traffic safety practices.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Injury Epidemiology, 2026 · DOI ↗