A-road
A178 traffic and collisions
The A178 is an A-road of 9.8 miles, from Middlesbrough to Hartlepool. This page covers its traffic at 6 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 28m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 7,754 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 11,098 Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew to A689 Hartlepool
- HGV share 4.2% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −3.6% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 20 15.1 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A178?
On an average day in 2025, 7,754 vehicles passed each point on the A178, counting both directions. The busiest section is Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew to A689 Hartlepool (Hartlepool), with 11,098 a day; the quietest listed is A66 to Transporter Bridge, with 758.
Busiest sections, 2025
Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew to A689 Hartlepool carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew to A689 Hartlepool Hartlepool · 2.7 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 11,098 |
| A1046 to A1185 Stockton-on-Tees · 1.6 mi · HGVs 4.4% | 8,246 |
| A1185 to Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool · 4.0 mi · HGVs 6.2% | 7,923 |
| A66 to Transporter Bridge Middlesbrough · 1.1 mi · HGVs 14.8% | 758 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Middlesbrough to Hartlepool · 9.8 miles
A178 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 | A66 to Transporter BridgeMiddlesbrough | 758 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | Transporter Bridge to A1046 Port Clarence RoadStockton-on-Tees | 758 | 0 |
| 3 | A1046 to A1185Stockton-on-Tees | 8,246 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | A1185 to Elizabeth Way, Seaton CarewStockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool | 7,923 | 8 |
| 5 | Elizabeth Way, Seaton Carew to A689 HartlepoolHartlepool | 11,098 | 8 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A178 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.
A178 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.5% of the vehicle miles on the A178. HGVs account for 4.2%, rising to 14.8% on A66 to Transporter Bridge.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 5.1% |
| 2001 | 4.7% |
| 2002 | 5.1% |
| 2003 | 5.0% |
| 2004 | 5.3% |
| 2005 | 5.3% |
| 2006 | 5.4% |
| 2007 | 5.8% |
| 2008 | 5.6% |
| 2009 | 4.9% |
| 2010 | 5.1% |
| 2011 | 5.0% |
| 2012 | 5.2% |
| 2013 | 5.3% |
| 2014 | 4.8% |
| 2015 | 4.8% |
| 2016 | 4.9% |
| 2017 | 5.0% |
| 2018 | 4.3% |
| 2019 | 4.4% |
| 2020 | 5.2% |
| 2021 | 5.1% |
| 2022 | 4.6% |
| 2023 | 4.3% |
| 2024 | 4.3% |
| 2025 | 4.2% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A178 traffic trend
Traffic on the A178 came to 27.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.6% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 2.6% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 26m |
| 2001 | 29m |
| 2002 | 28m |
| 2003 | 28m |
| 2004 | 26m |
| 2005 | 26m |
| 2006 | 26m |
| 2007 | 26m |
| 2008 | 27m |
| 2009 | 27m |
| 2010 | 26m |
| 2011 | 26m |
| 2012 | 26m |
| 2013 | 26m |
| 2014 | 27m |
| 2015 | 27m |
| 2016 | 28m |
| 2017 | 28m |
| 2018 | 29m |
| 2019 | 29m |
| 2020 | 22m |
| 2021 | 24m |
| 2022 | 27m |
| 2023 | 27m |
| 2024 | 27m |
| 2025 | 28m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 7,854 |
| 2001 | 8,504 |
| 2002 | 7,939 |
| 2003 | 8,012 |
| 2004 | 7,555 |
| 2005 | 7,485 |
| 2006 | 7,449 |
| 2007 | 7,439 |
| 2008 | 7,690 |
| 2009 | 7,888 |
| 2010 | 7,397 |
| 2011 | 7,355 |
| 2012 | 7,483 |
| 2013 | 7,485 |
| 2014 | 7,669 |
| 2015 | 7,748 |
| 2016 | 7,946 |
| 2017 | 8,020 |
| 2018 | 8,026 |
| 2019 | 8,042 |
| 2020 | 6,068 |
| 2021 | 6,678 |
| 2022 | 7,419 |
| 2023 | 7,573 |
| 2024 | 7,664 |
| 2025 | 7,754 |
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, 0 of the 6 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A178 collisions
Police recorded 20 collisions with the A178 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 7 of them fatal or serious. That is 15.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.4 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
| Year | Collisions | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 | 3 |
| 2022 | 7 | 3 |
| 2023 | fewer than 3 | 0 |
| 2024 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 | fewer than 3 | 0 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A178
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Middlesbrough
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Hartlepool
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 | 20 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.