A-road

A1018 traffic and collisions

The A1018 is an A-road of 14.1 miles, from Durham to South Tyneside. This page covers its traffic at 17 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
17 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 75m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 14,569 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 17,998 B1291 to A184
  • HGV share 1.5% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −4.2% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 109 29.9 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A1018?

On an average day in 2025, 14,569 vehicles passed each point on the A1018, counting both directions. The busiest section is B1291 to A184 (Sunderland), with 17,998 a day; the quietest listed is A19 to Council boundary, with 9,563.

Busiest sections, 2025

B1291 to A184 carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A1018 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
B1291 to A184 Sunderland · 0.5 mi · HGVs 0.7% 17,998
A1300 to Dean Rd South Tyneside · 1.2 mi · HGVs 0.3% 15,944
A1231 Sunderland · 4.0 mi · HGVs 2.3% 15,714
A184 to A1300 John Reid Road Sunderland, South Tyneside · 3.1 mi · HGVs 0.6% 13,004
A1290 to B1291 Sunderland · 0.9 mi · HGVs 0.9% 12,264
A19 to Council boundary Durham · 1.4 mi · HGVs 4.0% 9,563

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Durham to South Tyneside · 14.1 miles

Durham South Tyneside
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A1018 traffic and collisions by section

13 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (1.1 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A1018 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A19 to Council boundaryDurham1.49,5634.0%−5.8%fewer than 3
2A1231Sunderland4.015,7142.3%109.1
3A1231 to B1294Sunderland0.413,6803.6%−5.0%7
4B1294 to B1293Sunderland0.219,1282.5%+13.2%fewer than 3
5B1293 to A183Sunderland0.325,0872.1%+7.2%8
6A183 to A1018 Dame Dorothy StSunderland0.237,8210.9%+6.2%11
7A1018 Dame Dorothy St to Southwick Road roundaboutSunderland0.223,7070.7%+2.2%14
8A1290 to B1291Sunderland0.912,2640.9%+0.9%1043.7
9B1291 to A184Sunderland0.517,9980.7%+0.9%3
10A184 to A1300 John Reid RoadSunderland, South Tyneside3.113,0040.6%1624.6
11A1300 to Dean RdSouth Tyneside1.215,9440.3%9
12Sunderland Rd to Westoe RdSouth Tyneside0.49,6790.3%−7.2%12
13A1018 Imeary St to A194South Tyneside0.214,6570.5%−7.4%5

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A1018 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.

A1018 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 84.6% of the vehicle miles on the A1018. HGVs account for 1.5%, rising to 4.0% on A19 to Council boundary.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A1018, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.5%
2001 2.3%
2002 2.5%
2003 2.4%
2004 2.5%
2005 2.5%
2006 2.6%
2007 2.5%
2008 2.5%
2009 2.2%
2010 2.1%
2011 2.1%
2012 2.1%
2013 2.0%
2014 2.0%
2015 1.9%
2016 1.9%
2017 1.8%
2018 1.8%
2019 1.8%
2020 1.9%
2021 1.9%
2022 1.8%
2023 1.6%
2024 1.6%
2025 1.5%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A1018 traffic trend

Traffic on the A1018 came to 75 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 4.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.4% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 7.8% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A1018 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 66m
2001 65m
2002 72m
2003 71m
2004 73m
2005 73m
2006 73m
2007 73m
2008 67m
2009 69m
2010 68m
2011 68m
2012 68m
2013 68m
2014 69m
2015 70m
2016 71m
2017 71m
2018 70m
2019 74m
2020 61m
2021 68m
2022 74m
2023 75m
2024 73m
2025 75m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A1018, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 13,227
2001 13,545
2002 14,778
2003 14,522
2004 14,982
2005 15,001
2006 14,855
2007 14,845
2008 13,484
2009 13,869
2010 13,656
2011 13,773
2012 13,624
2013 13,633
2014 13,969
2015 14,135
2016 14,194
2017 14,235
2018 14,134
2019 14,705
2020 12,018
2021 13,251
2022 14,410
2023 14,680
2024 14,374
2025 14,569

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (44.0% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 2 of the 17 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A1018 collisions

Police recorded 109 collisions with the A1018 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 23 of them fatal or serious. That is 29.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.6 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 36.0% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A1018 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 223
2022 158
2023 175
2024 203
2025 124

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

Sections with the highest collision rates

Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.

Collisions per 100 million vehicle miles by section of the A1018, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A1290 to B1291 Sunderland · 10 collisions 43.7
A184 to A1300 John Reid Road Sunderland, South Tyneside · 16 collisions 24.6
A1231 Sunderland · 10 collisions 9.1

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 27 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A1018 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A1018

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • Durham
  • Sunderland
  • South Tyneside

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Traffic counts and vehicle mix Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2000 to 2025 17 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 109 reported collisions 15 September 2026
  • Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
  • Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
  • Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
  • STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
  • Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
  • Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.