A-road
A1231 traffic and collisions
The A1231 is an A-road of 10.2 miles, from Sunderland to Gateshead. This page covers its traffic at 14 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 126m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 33,815 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 56,026 A195 to NISSAN WAY
- HGV share 3.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −2.8% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 102 17.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A1231?
On an average day in 2025, 33,815 vehicles passed each point on the A1231, counting both directions. The busiest section is A195 to NISSAN WAY (Sunderland), with 56,026 a day; the quietest listed is A1018 Hendon Rd to Burdon Rd, with 7,096.
Busiest sections, 2025
A195 to NISSAN WAY carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A195 to NISSAN WAY Sunderland · 1.2 mi · HGVs 4.7% | 56,026 |
| NISSAN WAY to A195 Sunderland · 1.0 mi · HGVs 4.1% | 50,107 |
| A195 to A182 Sunderland · 1.2 mi · HGVs 3.9% | 44,660 |
| slips from Blackfen Rd to B1288 Sunderland · 0.8 mi · HGVs 4.2% | 32,968 |
| A19 to Castletown Way - Northern Spire Bridge roundabout Sunderland · 1.7 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 29,563 |
| Junction at A1293 and A1231 to Roundabout just north of St Michael's Church Minster Sunderland · 2.2 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 26,782 |
| A1018 Hendon Rd to Burdon Rd Sunderland · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 7,096 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Sunderland to Gateshead · 10.2 miles
A1231 traffic and collisions by section
14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A1018 Hendon Rd to Burdon RdSunderland | 7,096 | 3 |
| 2 | Burdon Rd to Stockton RdSunderland | 7,816 | 0 |
| 3 | Park Rd to A690Sunderland | 10,676 | 11 |
| 4 | A690 to A183Sunderland | 18,647 | 6 |
| 5 | At A183Sunderland | 28,360 | 7 |
| 6 | Junction at A1293 and A1231 to Roundabout just north of St Michael's Church MinsterSunderland | 26,782 | 15 |
| 7 | A19 to Castletown Way - Northern Spire Bridge roundaboutSunderland | 29,563 | 19 |
| 8 | A195 to NISSAN WAYSunderland | 56,026 | 16 |
| 9 | NISSAN WAY to A195Sunderland | 50,107 | 6 |
| 10 | A195 to A182Sunderland | 44,660 | 8 |
| 11 | A182 to slips from Blackfen RdSunderland | 36,595 | 5 |
| 12 | slips from Blackfen Rd to B1288Sunderland | 32,968 | 3 |
| 13 | B1288 to A1/A1(M) mid-juncGateshead | 26,504 | fewer than 3 |
| 14 | A1/A1(M) mid-junc to B1288Gateshead | 26,504 | fewer than 3 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A1231 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.
A1231 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.9% of the vehicle miles on the A1231. HGVs account for 3.5%, rising to 4.7% on A195 to NISSAN WAY.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 5.7% |
| 2001 | 5.5% |
| 2002 | 5.2% |
| 2003 | 5.5% |
| 2004 | 5.4% |
| 2005 | 4.8% |
| 2006 | 4.6% |
| 2007 | 4.7% |
| 2008 | 5.0% |
| 2009 | 4.6% |
| 2010 | 4.5% |
| 2011 | 4.5% |
| 2012 | 4.4% |
| 2013 | 4.3% |
| 2014 | 4.4% |
| 2015 | 4.2% |
| 2016 | 4.2% |
| 2017 | 4.2% |
| 2018 | 4.3% |
| 2019 | 3.9% |
| 2020 | 4.4% |
| 2021 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 3.7% |
| 2023 | 3.6% |
| 2024 | 3.5% |
| 2025 | 3.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A1231 traffic trend
Traffic on the A1231 came to 126 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 2.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 7.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 15.0% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 117m |
| 2001 | 121m |
| 2002 | 124m |
| 2003 | 125m |
| 2004 | 127m |
| 2005 | 124m |
| 2006 | 122m |
| 2007 | 122m |
| 2008 | 120m |
| 2009 | 117m |
| 2010 | 115m |
| 2011 | 115m |
| 2012 | 116m |
| 2013 | 117m |
| 2014 | 117m |
| 2015 | 120m |
| 2016 | 126m |
| 2017 | 127m |
| 2018 | 137m |
| 2019 | 125m |
| 2020 | 97m |
| 2021 | 107m |
| 2022 | 118m |
| 2023 | 121m |
| 2024 | 122m |
| 2025 | 126m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 32,745 |
| 2001 | 33,689 |
| 2002 | 34,702 |
| 2003 | 34,895 |
| 2004 | 35,448 |
| 2005 | 34,535 |
| 2006 | 35,242 |
| 2007 | 35,069 |
| 2008 | 34,727 |
| 2009 | 33,798 |
| 2010 | 33,213 |
| 2011 | 33,285 |
| 2012 | 33,534 |
| 2013 | 33,860 |
| 2014 | 33,696 |
| 2015 | 34,681 |
| 2016 | 36,183 |
| 2017 | 36,568 |
| 2018 | 34,779 |
| 2019 | 34,347 |
| 2020 | 26,641 |
| 2021 | 29,212 |
| 2022 | 31,601 |
| 2023 | 32,619 |
| 2024 | 32,817 |
| 2025 | 33,815 |
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 (78.4% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 3 of the 14 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A1231 collisions
Police recorded 102 collisions with the A1231 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 22 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 17.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.0 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 107.7% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | 4 |
| 2022 | 18 | 3 |
| 2023 | 14 | 5 |
| 2024 | 18 | 4 |
| 2025 | 21 | 6 |
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.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| A19 to Castletown Way - Northern Spire Bridge roundabout Sunderland · 19 collisions | 20.8 |
| Junction at A1293 and A1231 to Roundabout just north of St Michael's Church Minster Sunderland · 15 collisions | 17.8 |
| A195 to NISSAN WAY Sunderland · 16 collisions | 14.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 16 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A1231 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 A1231
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Sunderland
- Gateshead
Data sources and methodology
| 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 | 14 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 102 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.