A-road
A126 traffic and collisions
The A126 is an A-road of 9.3 miles, from Tower Hamlets to Thurrock. This page covers its traffic at 14 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 38m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 11,147 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 19,362 A126 to A126 Eastern Way
- HGV share 4.8% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −2.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 120 64.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A126?
On an average day in 2025, 11,147 vehicles passed each point on the A126, counting both directions. The busiest section is A126 to A126 Eastern Way (Thurrock), with 19,362 a day; the quietest listed is Stoneness Road roundabout to A1012, with 7,003.
Busiest sections, 2025
A126 to A126 Eastern Way carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A126 to A126 Eastern Way Thurrock · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 19,362 |
| A13(T) to A126 London Road Thurrock · 1.4 mi · HGVs 10.7% | 16,577 |
| B189 to A126 split Thurrock · 1.3 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 11,757 |
| B149 to A1089 Thurrock · 1.4 mi · HGVs 0.3% | 11,077 |
| A126 split to B149 Thurrock · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 8,674 |
| Stoneness Road roundabout to A1012 Thurrock · 2.0 mi · HGVs 10.2% | 7,003 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Tower Hamlets to Thurrock · 9.3 miles in 2 stretches
A126 traffic and collisions by section
11 sections between junctions, in route order (2 separate stretches). Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (0.9 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A126/A101 to A13/A126Tower Hamlets · stretch 1 | 17,519 | 3 |
| 2 | A13(T) to A126 London RoadThurrock · stretch 2 | 16,577 | 14 |
| 3 | Stoneness Road roundabout to A1012Thurrock · stretch 2 | 7,003 | 19 |
| 4 | A126 to A126 Eastern WayThurrock · stretch 2 | 19,362 | 5 |
| 5 | A126 Eastern Way to A126 London RoadThurrock · stretch 2 | 10,377 | 3 |
| 6 | A126 Crown Rd to A1013Thurrock · stretch 2 | 9,592 | 11 |
| 7 | A1013 to B189Thurrock · stretch 2 | 7,638 | 0 |
| 8 | B189 to A126 splitThurrock · stretch 2 | 11,757 | 17 |
| 9 | At A126 splitThurrock · stretch 2 | 10,249 | 11 |
| 10 | A126 split to B149Thurrock · stretch 2 | 8,674 | 4 |
| 11 | B149 to A1089Thurrock · stretch 2 | 11,077 | 22 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A126 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.
A126 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 78.6% of the vehicle miles on the A126. HGVs account for 4.8%, rising to 10.7% on A13(T) to A126 London Road.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 7.4% |
| 2001 | 7.3% |
| 2002 | 7.5% |
| 2003 | 7.5% |
| 2004 | 8.3% |
| 2005 | 7.9% |
| 2006 | 6.9% |
| 2007 | 6.7% |
| 2008 | 6.4% |
| 2009 | 5.4% |
| 2010 | 5.1% |
| 2011 | 5.3% |
| 2012 | 4.8% |
| 2013 | 4.8% |
| 2014 | 4.9% |
| 2015 | 4.6% |
| 2016 | 4.4% |
| 2017 | 4.6% |
| 2018 | 4.8% |
| 2019 | 4.4% |
| 2020 | 4.9% |
| 2021 | 5.0% |
| 2022 | 5.2% |
| 2023 | 5.3% |
| 2024 | 4.9% |
| 2025 | 4.8% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A126 traffic trend
Traffic on the A126 came to 37.8 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 2.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 0.5% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 4.4% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 37m |
| 2001 | 36m |
| 2002 | 38m |
| 2003 | 37m |
| 2004 | 39m |
| 2005 | 36m |
| 2006 | 35m |
| 2007 | 34m |
| 2008 | 34m |
| 2009 | 34m |
| 2010 | 34m |
| 2011 | 35m |
| 2012 | 34m |
| 2013 | 36m |
| 2014 | 33m |
| 2015 | 33m |
| 2016 | 34m |
| 2017 | 33m |
| 2018 | 34m |
| 2019 | 40m |
| 2020 | 32m |
| 2021 | 36m |
| 2022 | 37m |
| 2023 | 37m |
| 2024 | 38m |
| 2025 | 38m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 11,704 |
| 2001 | 11,359 |
| 2002 | 11,908 |
| 2003 | 11,751 |
| 2004 | 12,109 |
| 2005 | 12,060 |
| 2006 | 11,781 |
| 2007 | 11,643 |
| 2008 | 11,628 |
| 2009 | 11,532 |
| 2010 | 11,758 |
| 2011 | 11,829 |
| 2012 | 11,712 |
| 2013 | 11,413 |
| 2014 | 10,456 |
| 2015 | 10,299 |
| 2016 | 10,653 |
| 2017 | 10,607 |
| 2018 | 10,706 |
| 2019 | 11,447 |
| 2020 | 9,034 |
| 2021 | 10,133 |
| 2022 | 10,859 |
| 2023 | 10,979 |
| 2024 | 11,088 |
| 2025 | 11,147 |
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 (84.9% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 14 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A126 collisions
Police recorded 120 collisions with the A126 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 27 of them fatal or serious. That is 64.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.6 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 29.6% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | 4 |
| 2022 | 16 | 9 |
| 2023 | 23 | 5 |
| 2024 | 15 | 6 |
| 2025 | 16 | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|
| B149 to A1089 Thurrock · 22 collisions | 83.9 |
| Stoneness Road roundabout to A1012 Thurrock · 19 collisions | 75.1 |
| B189 to A126 split Thurrock · 17 collisions | 63.0 |
| A13(T) to A126 London Road Thurrock · 14 collisions | 54.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 19 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A126 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 90.8% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A126
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Tower Hamlets
- Thurrock
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 | 120 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.