Trunk A-road

A17 traffic and collisions

The A17 is a trunk A-road of 60.4 miles, from Norfolk to Nottinghamshire. This page covers its traffic at 13 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
13 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 436m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 19,796 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 29,905 A153 spur to A15
  • HGV share 12.0% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +9.0% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 369 18.2 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A17?

On an average day in 2025, 19,796 vehicles passed each point on the A17, counting both directions. The busiest section is A153 spur to A15 (Lincolnshire), with 29,905 a day; the quietest listed is A52 to A1121, with 12,698.

Busiest sections, 2025

A153 spur to A15 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A17 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A153 spur to A15 Lincolnshire · 1.2 mi · HGVs 10.6% 29,905
A1101 to A151 Lincolnshire · 6.7 mi · HGVs 7.1% 24,647
A1121 to A153 spur Lincolnshire · 9.6 mi · HGVs 11.5% 22,058
A151 to A16 Lincolnshire · 6.8 mi · HGVs 10.3% 21,452
A47 to A1101 Norfolk, Lincolnshire · 11.1 mi · HGVs 10.2% 19,298
A15 to A46 Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire · 16.8 mi · HGVs 15.8% 17,742
A16 to A52 Lincolnshire · 4.5 mi · HGVs 15.8% 17,119
A52 to A1121 Lincolnshire · 3.1 mi · HGVs 17.3% 12,698

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Norfolk to Nottinghamshire · 60.4 miles

Norfolk Nottinghamshire
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A17 traffic and collisions by section

9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.4 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A17 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A47 to A1101Norfolk, Lincolnshire11.119,29810.2%+4.4%4712.5
2A1101 to A151Lincolnshire6.724,6477.1%+15.4%4616.0
3A151 to A16Lincolnshire6.821,45210.3%+29.9%5222.2
4A16 to A52Lincolnshire4.517,11915.8%+19.5%2620.3
5A52 to A1121Lincolnshire3.112,69817.3%−5.6%1724.4
6A1121 to A153 spurLincolnshire9.622,05811.5%−6.3%5114.8
7At A153 spurLincolnshire0.226,2835.7%−2.1%6
8A153 spur to A15Lincolnshire1.229,90510.6%+2.4%1220.4
9A15 to A46Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire16.817,74215.8%+14.5%10921.1

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A17 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.

A17 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 69.2% of the vehicle miles on the A17. HGVs account for 12.0%, rising to 17.3% on A52 to A1121.

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 A17, by year
Year HGV share
2000 18.6%
2001 17.5%
2002 16.7%
2003 16.1%
2004 16.3%
2005 14.7%
2006 15.9%
2007 17.0%
2008 17.2%
2009 16.0%
2010 15.3%
2011 15.2%
2012 14.6%
2013 14.7%
2014 14.8%
2015 14.9%
2016 14.4%
2017 14.3%
2018 13.9%
2019 13.8%
2020 15.8%
2021 15.4%
2022 13.9%
2023 13.2%
2024 12.3%
2025 12.0%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A17 traffic trend

Traffic on the A17 came to 436 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 9.0% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 27.1% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 46.2% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A17 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 297m
2001 312m
2002 317m
2003 328m
2004 323m
2005 356m
2006 323m
2007 346m
2008 322m
2009 320m
2010 326m
2011 329m
2012 325m
2013 325m
2014 332m
2015 342m
2016 354m
2017 371m
2018 392m
2019 400m
2020 328m
2021 367m
2022 399m
2023 406m
2024 422m
2025 436m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A17, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 13,544
2001 14,208
2002 14,437
2003 14,930
2004 14,728
2005 16,243
2006 14,726
2007 15,750
2008 14,656
2009 14,563
2010 14,840
2011 15,002
2012 14,791
2013 14,833
2014 15,149
2015 15,574
2016 16,118
2017 16,889
2018 17,780
2019 18,158
2020 14,871
2021 16,662
2022 18,116
2023 18,424
2024 19,138
2025 19,796

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, 3 of the 13 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A17 collisions

Police recorded 369 collisions with the A17 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 119 of them fatal or serious, including 13 fatal. That is 18.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.2 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 4.0% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A17 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 5025
2022 4522
2023 5822
2024 4821
2025 4929

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 A17, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A52 to A1121 Lincolnshire · 17 collisions 24.4
A151 to A16 Lincolnshire · 52 collisions 22.2
A15 to A46 Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire · 109 collisions 21.1
A153 spur to A15 Lincolnshire · 12 collisions 20.4
A16 to A52 Lincolnshire · 26 collisions 20.3
A1101 to A151 Lincolnshire · 46 collisions 16.0
A1121 to A153 spur Lincolnshire · 51 collisions 14.8
A47 to A1101 Norfolk, Lincolnshire · 47 collisions 12.5

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

A further 36 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A17 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 99.2% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A17

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

  • Norfolk
  • Lincolnshire
  • Nottinghamshire

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 13 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 369 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.