A-road
A197 traffic and collisions
The A197 is an A-road of 9.8 miles, in Northumberland. This page covers its traffic at 8 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 42m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 11,614 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 16,008 A196 to A1068
- HGV share 2.0% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +18.2% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 49 24.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A197?
On an average day in 2025, 11,614 vehicles passed each point on the A197, counting both directions. The busiest section is A196 to A1068 (Northumberland), with 16,008 a day; the quietest listed is road to Morpeth hospital to A1068, with 6,046.
Busiest sections, 2025
A196 to A1068 carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A196 to A1068 Northumberland · 1.1 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 16,008 |
| A1068 to road to Morpeth hospital Northumberland · 0.5 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 14,199 |
| A1068 to road to Morpeth hospital Northumberland · 2.9 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 14,032 |
| A189 to A196 Northumberland · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 13,841 |
| A189 to B1334 Northumberland · 1.4 mi · HGVs 0.4% | 6,196 |
| road to Morpeth hospital to A1068 Northumberland · 1.9 mi · HGVs 4.8% | 6,046 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Northumberland · 9.8 miles
A197 traffic and collisions by section
8 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 | A189 to B1334Northumberland | 6,196 | 10 |
| 2 | At A197Northumberland | 15,648 | fewer than 3 |
| 3 | A189 to A196Northumberland | 13,841 | 9 |
| 4 | A196 to A1068Northumberland | 16,008 | 12 |
| 5 | At A1068Northumberland | 13,949 | fewer than 3 |
| 6 | A1068 to road to Morpeth hospitalNorthumberland | 14,032 | 9 |
| 7 | road to Morpeth hospital to A1068Northumberland | 6,046 | 4 |
| 8 | A1068 to road to Morpeth hospitalNorthumberland | 14,199 | fewer than 3 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A197 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.
A197 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 85.2% of the vehicle miles on the A197. HGVs account for 2.0%, rising to 4.8% on road to Morpeth hospital to A1068.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.4% |
| 2001 | 2.5% |
| 2002 | 2.9% |
| 2003 | 2.9% |
| 2004 | 3.0% |
| 2005 | 2.9% |
| 2006 | 2.7% |
| 2007 | 2.8% |
| 2008 | 2.5% |
| 2009 | 2.2% |
| 2010 | 1.8% |
| 2011 | 1.8% |
| 2012 | 1.9% |
| 2013 | 1.7% |
| 2014 | 1.6% |
| 2015 | 1.8% |
| 2016 | 1.9% |
| 2017 | 2.0% |
| 2018 | 2.3% |
| 2019 | 2.3% |
| 2020 | 2.5% |
| 2021 | 2.4% |
| 2022 | 2.3% |
| 2023 | 2.1% |
| 2024 | 2.0% |
| 2025 | 2.0% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A197 traffic trend
Traffic on the A197 came to 41.5 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 18.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 14.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 39.6% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 37m |
| 2001 | 38m |
| 2002 | 37m |
| 2003 | 38m |
| 2004 | 38m |
| 2005 | 38m |
| 2006 | 42m |
| 2007 | 42m |
| 2008 | 42m |
| 2009 | 41m |
| 2010 | 42m |
| 2011 | 42m |
| 2012 | 41m |
| 2013 | 42m |
| 2014 | 42m |
| 2015 | 44m |
| 2016 | 44m |
| 2017 | 53m |
| 2018 | 38m |
| 2019 | 35m |
| 2020 | 31m |
| 2021 | 36m |
| 2022 | 39m |
| 2023 | 41m |
| 2024 | 41m |
| 2025 | 42m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9,578 |
| 2001 | 9,922 |
| 2002 | 9,626 |
| 2003 | 9,860 |
| 2004 | 10,032 |
| 2005 | 9,997 |
| 2006 | 10,620 |
| 2007 | 10,664 |
| 2008 | 10,608 |
| 2009 | 10,344 |
| 2010 | 10,592 |
| 2011 | 10,664 |
| 2012 | 10,462 |
| 2013 | 10,583 |
| 2014 | 10,683 |
| 2015 | 11,038 |
| 2016 | 11,024 |
| 2017 | 10,884 |
| 2018 | 10,223 |
| 2019 | 9,830 |
| 2020 | 8,621 |
| 2021 | 10,003 |
| 2022 | 10,887 |
| 2023 | 11,357 |
| 2024 | 11,502 |
| 2025 | 11,614 |
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 8 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A197 collisions
Police recorded 49 collisions with the A197 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 10 of them fatal or serious. That is 24.7 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
Down 64.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 |
| 2022 | 10 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2025 | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A189 to B1334 Northumberland · 10 collisions | 65.7 |
| A196 to A1068 Northumberland · 12 collisions | 38.5 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 6 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A197 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A197
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Northumberland
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 | 8 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 49 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.