What’s The Deal with Amazon Trucks? Safety Violations, Fatal Wrecks, and More.

Type “Amazon truck wreck” into your search bar, and you’ll find dozens of articles published recently from all across the country.

The headlines share glimpses of a concerning trend, where Amazon trucks are involved in preventable crashes, their drivers found guilty of safety violations.

A recent CBS News investigation shared that Amazon contractors commit significantly more safety violations each month than other carriers. Let’s look at these wrecks and the methods Amazon is using to get packages to your doorstep.

Why Aren’t All Amazon Truck Drivers Considered Employees?

There’s been confusion in recent years around Amazon’s drivers. It turns out that the folks wearing Amazon vests and driving vans marked by the familiar blue check mark aren’t technically Amazon employees.

This allows Amazon to avoid legal responsibility when these contractors commit safety violations or engage in dangerous driving practices. It is also a reason that many delivery drivers have gone on strike, alleging neglect and stressful work conditions.

To be treated better, these drivers want to be recognized as Amazon workers.

“If we weren’t their workers, we wouldn’t be driving their trucks, we wouldn’t be wearing their gear, we wouldn’t be delivering their packages,” one delivery driver told CNN.

Much of this confusion links back to Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program.

Understanding Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) Program

The DSP program, since its beginning in 2018, has allowed Amazon to partner with other delivery services. An Amazon press release from October 2024 says that, through the DSP program, the company can help small businesses get their footing by working with one of the world’s biggest corporations.

Amazon reported that it uses more than 3,500 DSPs to deliver 20 million packages across 19 countries every day.

These contractors may use their own vehicles or lease Amazon-branded vehicles, an article reports. According to Amazon, its vehicles are designed for safety, equipped with in-vehicle camera safety technology. Its new electric delivery vehicles include blind spot warnings, automatic emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alerts, and more.

The company has invested $12.3 billion in technology, safety features and other programs for DSPs. Amazon vehicles using safety technology have seen a 48% decrease in accident rates since 2020, the company reports.

However, recent studies indicate that these DSP vehicles are still some of the more dangerous commercial motor vehicles on the roads.

How a Fatal Amazon DSP Truck Crash Exposed Major Safety Issues

In January 2022, a 19-year-old woman, on break from her night shift at an Amazon warehouse in Texas, was struck by an Amazon box truck driver. Her vehicle rolled several times, and she died in the crash.

The box truck driver, Jordan Sannicola, was arrested a month later. He told the police he was using a “hand-held mobile device” when the wreck occurred. An investigation revealed that Sannicola had a worrisome history: traffic violations, a suspended driver’s license, even outstanding felony warrants.

How could he have been hired?

According to the lawsuit, Amazon had previously rejected Sannicola’s employment application because he failed a background check. However, by securing a job with a DSP, he could still haul Amazon freight.

This DSP contractor was called “Take Flight with B.” The attorney of the young woman who died in the crash said that, during his employment with Take Flight with B, Sannicola had 70 speeding violations. Amazon was notified of each of these, but allegedly did not act.

Since the deadly wreck, Amazon has permanently suspended Take Flight with B from its fleet, and the carrier has gone out of business.

However, Take Flight isn’t the only contractor guilty of operating despite safety violations.

What Is Amazon’s “Middle Mile” and Why Is It So Dangerous?

One unfortunate result of Amazon’s DSP program is that a fleet of thousands of small, inexperienced delivery services is hard to manage. It becomes impossible to enforce consistent safety standards when Amazon uses so many third-party carriers.

The study conducted by CBS News found that most contractor safety violations occur on Amazon’s “middle mile.”

The middle mile comprises any stretch of travel between Amazon facilities, usually driven by truck. The safety violations in this middle-mile network are double those of other, non-Amazon carriers. Common violations are speeding and using a cell phone while driving.

Study finds alarming rates of safety violations among Amazon contractors

CBS reported that its analysis “examined six years of monthly Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) unsafe driving rates and found the average rates of carriers who shipped for Amazon were at least 89% higher in every month.”

According to Amazon, carriers who violate FMCSA guidelines may face consequences. This has been the case for about 19,000 third-party motor carriers. Yet the wrecks continue.

Study Reveals Amazon Truck Safety Violations at Alarming Rates

The wrecks occur in every part of the country, varying in severity, from minor property damage to death. Here are a few collisions involving Amazon drivers that made the news recently:

• On December 11, 2024, a third-party Amazon delivery driver struck a 6-year-old girl and her 50-year-old-grandmother in New Jersey. The girl had exited the school bus and was crossing the street with her grandmother. Police reported that the delivery driver was using her cell phone and ignored the bus’s stop sign and flashing red lights.
• On November 12, 2024, an Amazon driver allegedly struck and killed a 79-year-old pedestrian, then left and continued delivering packages. Investigators found narcotics inside the delivery driver’s van. He was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide and hit-and-run resulting in death, as well as charges for the drug possession.
• In the summer of 2023, a third-party Amazon driver crashed into a Maryland woman’s yard, causing $5,000 of damage. She contacted Amazon but was directed to a DSP she’d never heard of. Their insurance company never responded. Eight months later, she found out through her own insurance that the DSP paid her claim.
• On December 7, 2024, in Oklahoma, a speeding Amazon truck struck the back of a semi-truck and became lodged beneath it. The Amazon truck caught on fire, and the driver died due to injuries. News stories did not clarify if the Amazon driver was a contractor or not.

Recent Amazon Truck Accidents That Made Headlines

Amazon is not the only shipping company seeing catastrophic wrecks. Semi tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks have been involved in more collisions each year. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported a 50% increase in truck wreck fatalities from 2012 to 2021.

As online shopping becomes the default, and e-retailers promise quicker delivery times — two-day Amazon Prime shipping, for example — trucks hit the roads with urgency. Speeding and violating hours-of-service requirements may help drivers deliver their loads sooner, but it makes the roads more dangerous.

Are Commercial Truck Crashes Increasing Across the U.S.?

If you or someone you know has been the victim of a wreck involving an Amazon truck, you might be feeling lost and overwhelmed. Third-party carriers make it difficult to assign blame, especially when there are so many factors in commercial-vehicle and large-truck wrecks.

Distracted, impaired and drowsy driving, and other issues like speeding, often cause truck wrecks. If you have been seriously injured by a delivery driver’s negligence, you will need an attorney with a team to investigate your wreck and help you recover financially.

Attorneys at Craig, Kelley & Faultless represent clients in Indianapolis and St. Louis. We also take heavy-truck wreck cases across Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, and Tennessee.

Get Legal Help After an Amazon Truck or Commercial Vehicle Crash

David W. Craig sits on the Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (which requires the board certification in truck accident law). He is the managing partner and one of the founding partners of Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC. He is recognized as a Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyer and Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Indiana by the National Trial Lawyers, as well as a Top 50 Indiana lawyer by Super Lawyers. David is the author of Semitruck Wreck, A Guide for Victims and Their Families, written to help people navigate a terrible situation by answering questions that come after a tragic wreck. He also hosts the podcast After the Crash, where you can gain valuable information about the dangers involving semis and large trucks that do not follow Indiana law safety protocol regarding speed, weather conditions, maintenance upkeep, etc.