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

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.