A-road
A142 traffic and collisions
The A142 is an A-road of 25.7 miles, from Suffolk to Cambridgeshire. This page covers its traffic at 6 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 143m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 15,220 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 18,914 Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge)
- HGV share 7.1% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +2.5% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 128 19.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A142?
On an average day in 2025, 15,220 vehicles passed each point on the A142, counting both directions. The busiest section is Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge) (Cambridgeshire), with 18,914 a day; the quietest listed is A1421 to A141, with 11,193.
Busiest sections, 2025
Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge) carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge) Cambridgeshire · 7.8 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 18,914 |
| A14 to A1123 Suffolk, Cambridgeshire · 4.2 mi · HGVs 8.6% | 16,658 |
| A10 to A1421 Cambridgeshire · 4.2 mi · HGVs 6.9% | 15,588 |
| B1063 Old Station Road to Studlands Park Avenue roundabout Suffolk · 1.9 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 12,168 |
| A1421 to A141 Cambridgeshire · 7.6 mi · HGVs 10.6% | 11,193 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Suffolk to Cambridgeshire · 25.7 miles
A142 traffic and collisions by section
5 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 | B1063 Old Station Road to Studlands Park Avenue roundaboutSuffolk | 12,168 | 12 |
| 2 | A14 to A1123Suffolk, Cambridgeshire | 16,658 | 19 |
| 3 | Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge)Cambridgeshire | 18,914 | 47 |
| 4 | A10 to A1421Cambridgeshire | 15,588 | 17 |
| 5 | A1421 to A141Cambridgeshire | 11,193 | 33 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A142 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.
A142 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 74.1% of the vehicle miles on the A142. HGVs account for 7.1%, rising to 10.6% on A1421 to A141.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9.4% |
| 2001 | 9.8% |
| 2002 | 10.4% |
| 2003 | 9.4% |
| 2004 | 9.4% |
| 2005 | 8.4% |
| 2006 | 9.3% |
| 2007 | 8.4% |
| 2008 | 8.4% |
| 2009 | 7.7% |
| 2010 | 7.8% |
| 2011 | 7.8% |
| 2012 | 7.9% |
| 2013 | 8.0% |
| 2014 | 7.8% |
| 2015 | 7.7% |
| 2016 | 7.7% |
| 2017 | 8.5% |
| 2018 | 8.2% |
| 2019 | 8.3% |
| 2020 | 9.8% |
| 2021 | 8.7% |
| 2022 | 7.8% |
| 2023 | 7.4% |
| 2024 | 7.3% |
| 2025 | 7.1% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A142 traffic trend
Traffic on the A142 came to 143 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 2.5% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 7.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 11.8% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 112m |
| 2001 | 116m |
| 2002 | 115m |
| 2003 | 115m |
| 2004 | 117m |
| 2005 | 119m |
| 2006 | 121m |
| 2007 | 126m |
| 2008 | 118m |
| 2009 | 115m |
| 2010 | 115m |
| 2011 | 115m |
| 2012 | 114m |
| 2013 | 114m |
| 2014 | 117m |
| 2015 | 120m |
| 2016 | 123m |
| 2017 | 126m |
| 2018 | 135m |
| 2019 | 138m |
| 2020 | 105m |
| 2021 | 116m |
| 2022 | 134m |
| 2023 | 137m |
| 2024 | 139m |
| 2025 | 143m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 12,213 |
| 2001 | 12,603 |
| 2002 | 12,508 |
| 2003 | 12,580 |
| 2004 | 12,737 |
| 2005 | 12,887 |
| 2006 | 13,194 |
| 2007 | 13,663 |
| 2008 | 12,788 |
| 2009 | 12,525 |
| 2010 | 12,448 |
| 2011 | 12,534 |
| 2012 | 12,337 |
| 2013 | 12,347 |
| 2014 | 12,681 |
| 2015 | 13,072 |
| 2016 | 13,377 |
| 2017 | 13,644 |
| 2018 | 14,588 |
| 2019 | 14,787 |
| 2020 | 11,303 |
| 2021 | 12,450 |
| 2022 | 14,406 |
| 2023 | 14,674 |
| 2024 | 14,937 |
| 2025 | 15,220 |
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. In 2025, 1 of the 6 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A142 collisions
Police recorded 128 collisions with the A142 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 37 of them fatal or serious, including 8 fatal. That is 19.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.0 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 47.4% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | 3 |
| 2022 | 22 | 10 |
| 2023 | 14 | 10 |
| 2024 | 19 | 6 |
| 2025 | 20 | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|
| B1063 Old Station Road to Studlands Park Avenue roundabout Suffolk · 12 collisions | 142.2 |
| A1421 to A141 Cambridgeshire · 33 collisions | 22.3 |
| Roundabout where A10 Cambridge Road and A10 Angel Drove meet to Roundabout where A1123 and A142 meet (East of Down Field, Cambridge) Cambridgeshire · 47 collisions | 18.6 |
| A14 to A1123 Suffolk, Cambridgeshire · 19 collisions | 15.8 |
| A10 to A1421 Cambridgeshire · 17 collisions | 14.8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 23 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A142 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 100.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A142
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Suffolk
- Cambridgeshire
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 | 6 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 128 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.