Trunk A-road
A201 traffic and collisions
The A201 is a trunk A-road of 4.1 miles, from Islington to Southwark. This page covers its traffic at 17 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 22m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 14,990 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 28,404 Elephant and Castle to A2
- HGV share 3.9% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −24.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 388 316.4 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A201?
On an average day in 2025, 14,990 vehicles passed each point on the A201, counting both directions. The busiest section is Elephant and Castle to A2 (Southwark), with 28,404 a day; the quietest listed is A3200 to A3202, with 10,185.
Busiest sections, 2025
Elephant and Castle to A2 carries 1.9 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Elephant and Castle to A2 Southwark · 0.7 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 28,404 |
| A3200 to A3202 Southwark · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 10,185 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Islington to Southwark · 4.1 miles
A201 traffic and collisions by section
12 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (0.6 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pentonville Rd to Swinton StIslington | 7,051 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | Swinton St to Acton StIslington | 10,465 | fewer than 3 |
| 3 | Acton St to A401Islington | 12,186 | 10 |
| 4 | A401 to A5201Islington | 8,391 | 50 |
| 5 | A5201 to St Bride StIslington, City of London | 16,478 | 55 |
| 6 | St Bride St to A3211City of London | 15,254 | 17 |
| 7 | Victoria Embankment to Queen Victoria StCity of London | 19,217 | 4 |
| 8 | A3211 to A3200City of London, Southwark | 19,217 | 23 |
| 9 | A3200 to A3202Southwark | 10,185 | 59 |
| 10 | A3202 to A302Southwark | 14,523 | 8 |
| 11 | A302 to Elephant And CastleSouthwark | 10,732 | 42 |
| 12 | Elephant and Castle to A2Southwark | 28,404 | 117 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A201 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.
A201 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 56.7% of the vehicle miles on the A201. HGVs account for 3.9%, rising to 5.3% on Elephant and Castle to A2.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.1% |
| 2001 | 3.2% |
| 2002 | 3.3% |
| 2003 | 3.6% |
| 2004 | 3.3% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 3.4% |
| 2007 | 3.3% |
| 2008 | 3.8% |
| 2009 | 3.8% |
| 2010 | 4.1% |
| 2011 | 4.1% |
| 2012 | 4.7% |
| 2013 | 4.9% |
| 2014 | 4.5% |
| 2015 | 4.4% |
| 2016 | 3.1% |
| 2017 | 3.1% |
| 2018 | 2.9% |
| 2019 | 2.9% |
| 2020 | 3.9% |
| 2021 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 3.9% |
| 2023 | 3.8% |
| 2024 | 3.9% |
| 2025 | 3.9% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A201 traffic trend
Traffic on the A201 came to 22.4 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 24.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 34.3% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 54.0% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 47m |
| 2001 | 46m |
| 2002 | 43m |
| 2003 | 41m |
| 2004 | 41m |
| 2005 | 40m |
| 2006 | 42m |
| 2007 | 43m |
| 2008 | 38m |
| 2009 | 38m |
| 2010 | 37m |
| 2011 | 36m |
| 2012 | 34m |
| 2013 | 33m |
| 2014 | 34m |
| 2015 | 33m |
| 2016 | 29m |
| 2017 | 29m |
| 2018 | 29m |
| 2019 | 30m |
| 2020 | 23m |
| 2021 | 25m |
| 2022 | 25m |
| 2023 | 26m |
| 2024 | 25m |
| 2025 | 22m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 32,919 |
| 2001 | 32,257 |
| 2002 | 29,895 |
| 2003 | 28,719 |
| 2004 | 28,767 |
| 2005 | 28,018 |
| 2006 | 29,574 |
| 2007 | 30,505 |
| 2008 | 26,819 |
| 2009 | 26,832 |
| 2010 | 26,030 |
| 2011 | 25,168 |
| 2012 | 23,632 |
| 2013 | 23,484 |
| 2014 | 23,618 |
| 2015 | 23,062 |
| 2016 | 20,599 |
| 2017 | 20,554 |
| 2018 | 20,340 |
| 2019 | 19,805 |
| 2020 | 15,584 |
| 2021 | 16,666 |
| 2022 | 16,789 |
| 2023 | 17,124 |
| 2024 | 16,384 |
| 2025 | 14,990 |
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, 7 of the 17 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A201 collisions
Police recorded 388 collisions with the A201 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 98 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 316.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 18.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 26.7% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48 | 12 |
| 2022 | 71 | 24 |
| 2023 | 65 | 27 |
| 2024 | 48 | 17 |
| 2025 | 58 | 18 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A3200 to A3202 Southwark · 59 collisions | 535.1 |
| Elephant and Castle to A2 Southwark · 117 collisions | 314.9 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 101 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A201 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 A201
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Islington
- City of London
- Southwark
- Camden
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 | 17 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 388 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.