A-road

A179 traffic and collisions

The A179 is an A-road of 6.3 miles, from Hartlepool to Durham. This page covers its traffic at 6 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
6 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 46m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 19,882 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 34,419 A689 to B1277
  • HGV share 2.4% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +8.7% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 54 24.9 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A179?

On an average day in 2025, 19,882 vehicles passed each point on the A179, counting both directions. The busiest section is A689 to B1277 (Hartlepool), with 34,419 a day; the quietest listed is Bamburgh Road roundabout to A19, with 15,904.

Busiest sections, 2025

A689 to B1277 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A179 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A689 to B1277 Hartlepool · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.3% 34,419
B1277 to A1048 Hartlepool · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.9% 25,803
A1048 to A1086/A1049 Hartlepool · 1.7 mi · HGVs 1.9% 20,336
A1049 to Bamburgh Road roundabout Hartlepool · 0.5 mi · HGVs 3.3% 16,858
Bamburgh Road roundabout to A19 Hartlepool, Durham · 2.9 mi · HGVs 3.3% 15,904

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Hartlepool to Durham · 6.3 miles

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

A179 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
Sections of the A179 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A689 to B1277Hartlepool0.634,4191.3%+28.9%9
2B1277 to A1048Hartlepool0.625,8031.9%+14.5%fewer than 3
3A1048 to A1086/A1049Hartlepool1.720,3361.9%+4.2%2134.3
4A1049 to Bamburgh Road roundaboutHartlepool0.516,8583.3%+4.0%3
5Bamburgh Road roundabout to A19Hartlepool, Durham2.915,9043.3%+4.0%2024.7

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A179 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.

A179 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 84.5% of the vehicle miles on the A179. HGVs account for 2.4%.

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 A179, by year
Year HGV share
2000 5.9%
2001 5.2%
2002 5.2%
2003 4.4%
2004 4.3%
2005 4.1%
2006 3.9%
2007 3.5%
2008 3.4%
2009 3.1%
2010 3.5%
2011 3.6%
2012 3.6%
2013 3.8%
2014 3.7%
2015 3.8%
2016 3.7%
2017 3.0%
2018 2.9%
2019 2.9%
2020 3.1%
2021 2.8%
2022 2.6%
2023 2.5%
2024 2.5%
2025 2.4%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A179 traffic trend

Traffic on the A179 came to 45.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 8.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 6.3% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 31.2% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A179 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 29m
2001 34m
2002 33m
2003 34m
2004 35m
2005 34m
2006 34m
2007 34m
2008 33m
2009 33m
2010 33m
2011 33m
2012 33m
2013 34m
2014 35m
2015 36m
2016 38m
2017 36m
2018 42m
2019 42m
2020 33m
2021 39m
2022 43m
2023 44m
2024 45m
2025 46m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A179, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 14,561
2001 16,843
2002 16,230
2003 16,849
2004 17,624
2005 16,824
2006 16,882
2007 16,674
2008 16,608
2009 16,564
2010 16,617
2011 16,645
2012 16,627
2013 16,989
2014 17,391
2015 17,810
2016 18,871
2017 17,896
2018 18,171
2019 18,285
2020 14,388
2021 17,068
2022 18,736
2023 19,098
2024 19,360
2025 19,882

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.

A179 collisions

Police recorded 54 collisions with the A179 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 16 of them fatal or serious. That is 24.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.7 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 58.8% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A179 by year
Year Collisions
2021 17
2022 14
2023 11
2024 5
2025 7

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 A179, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A1048 to A1086/A1049 Hartlepool · 21 collisions 34.3
Bamburgh Road roundabout to A19 Hartlepool, Durham · 20 collisions 24.7

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 A179

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

  • Hartlepool
  • Durham

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 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 54 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.