A-road
A226 traffic and collisions
The A226 is an A-road of 17.5 miles, from Kent to Medway. This page covers its traffic at 21 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 75m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 11,780 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 14,844 Harmer St to Castle Lane
- HGV share 3.0% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −0.2% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 340 96.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A226?
On an average day in 2025, 11,780 vehicles passed each point on the A226, counting both directions. The busiest section is Harmer St to Castle Lane (Kent), with 14,844 a day; the quietest listed is A2 to B2108, with 6,487.
Busiest sections, 2025
Harmer St to Castle Lane carries 1.3 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Harmer St to Castle Lane Kent · 2.0 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 14,844 |
| A226 to A2260 Kent · 1.3 mi · HGVs 6.6% | 14,641 |
| A206 to A226 Kent · 2.0 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 12,882 |
| Castle Lane, Gravesend to A289 Kent · 2.9 mi · HGVs 2.5% | 12,161 |
| A296 to A206 Kent · 2.2 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 10,824 |
| A226 Darnley Rd to A26 merge Kent · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.5% | 9,990 |
| Council boundary to A2018 Kent · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.7% | 9,332 |
| A2260 to A226 Kent · 0.5 mi · HGVs 13.7% | 8,668 |
| A226 to A2260 Kent · 0.7 mi · HGVs 12.7% | 7,594 |
| A289 to A2 Kent, Medway · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 7,356 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Kent to Medway · 17.5 miles
A226 traffic and collisions by section
16 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 4 short link roads and spurs (1.4 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Show all 16 sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Council boundary to A2018Kent | 9,332 | 17 |
| 2 | A2018 to A226 Highfield Road NorthKent | 12,735 | 7 |
| 3 | A226 West Hill to A225Kent | 9,358 | 7 |
| 4 | A225 to A226 Home GardensKent | 7,469 | 9 |
| 5 | Home Gardens to A296Kent | 17,156 | 22 |
| 6 | A296 to A206Kent | 10,824 | 61 |
| 7 | A206 to A226Kent | 12,882 | 31 |
| 8 | A226 to A2260Kent | 7,594 | 6 |
| 9 | A2260 to A226Kent | 8,668 | 6 |
| 10 | A226 to A2260Kent | 14,641 | 12 |
| 11 | A2260 to A226 splitKent | 8,217 | 13 |
| 12 | A226 Darnley Rd to A26 mergeKent | 9,990 | 17 |
| 13 | Harmer St to Castle LaneKent | 14,844 | 60 |
| 14 | Castle Lane, Gravesend to A289Kent | 12,161 | 22 |
| 15 | A289 to A2Kent, Medway | 7,356 | 3 |
| 16 | A2 to B2108Medway | 6,487 | 10 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A226 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.
A226 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 81.6% of the vehicle miles on the A226. HGVs account for 3.0%, rising to 13.7% on A2260 to A226.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.6% |
| 2001 | 3.5% |
| 2002 | 4.1% |
| 2003 | 3.9% |
| 2004 | 3.9% |
| 2005 | 3.5% |
| 2006 | 3.5% |
| 2007 | 3.6% |
| 2008 | 3.5% |
| 2009 | 3.1% |
| 2010 | 3.2% |
| 2011 | 3.5% |
| 2012 | 3.3% |
| 2013 | 3.4% |
| 2014 | 3.1% |
| 2015 | 3.0% |
| 2016 | 2.7% |
| 2017 | 2.8% |
| 2018 | 2.9% |
| 2019 | 3.1% |
| 2020 | 3.7% |
| 2021 | 3.7% |
| 2022 | 3.5% |
| 2023 | 3.3% |
| 2024 | 3.0% |
| 2025 | 3.0% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A226 traffic trend
Traffic on the A226 came to 75.2 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is about the same as in 2019, before the pandemic, and down 7.7% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 12.2% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 77m |
| 2001 | 77m |
| 2002 | 81m |
| 2003 | 81m |
| 2004 | 80m |
| 2005 | 74m |
| 2006 | 74m |
| 2007 | 75m |
| 2008 | 76m |
| 2009 | 76m |
| 2010 | 75m |
| 2011 | 73m |
| 2012 | 72m |
| 2013 | 72m |
| 2014 | 71m |
| 2015 | 72m |
| 2016 | 67m |
| 2017 | 68m |
| 2018 | 68m |
| 2019 | 73m |
| 2020 | 57m |
| 2021 | 62m |
| 2022 | 70m |
| 2023 | 72m |
| 2024 | 74m |
| 2025 | 75m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 12,907 |
| 2001 | 12,955 |
| 2002 | 13,564 |
| 2003 | 13,682 |
| 2004 | 13,398 |
| 2005 | 12,754 |
| 2006 | 12,814 |
| 2007 | 13,013 |
| 2008 | 13,207 |
| 2009 | 13,108 |
| 2010 | 13,032 |
| 2011 | 12,599 |
| 2012 | 12,525 |
| 2013 | 12,493 |
| 2014 | 12,316 |
| 2015 | 12,488 |
| 2016 | 11,648 |
| 2017 | 11,679 |
| 2018 | 11,538 |
| 2019 | 11,622 |
| 2020 | 8,991 |
| 2021 | 9,883 |
| 2022 | 11,144 |
| 2023 | 11,339 |
| 2024 | 11,667 |
| 2025 | 11,780 |
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, 2 of the 21 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A226 collisions
Police recorded 340 collisions with the A226 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 69 of them fatal or serious. That is 96.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 3.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 34.5% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70 | 17 |
| 2022 | 66 | 10 |
| 2023 | 48 | 14 |
| 2024 | 47 | 11 |
| 2025 | 40 | 17 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A2 to B2108 Medway · 10 collisions | 190.8 |
| A226 to A2260 Kent · 12 collisions | 172.7 |
| A226 Darnley Rd to A26 merge Kent · 17 collisions | 137.4 |
| A296 to A206 Kent · 61 collisions | 130.3 |
| Council boundary to A2018 Kent · 17 collisions | 128.8 |
| Harmer St to Castle Lane Kent · 60 collisions | 116.7 |
| A206 to A226 Kent · 31 collisions | 71.4 |
| Castle Lane, Gravesend to A289 Kent · 22 collisions | 39.5 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 31 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A226 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 89.1% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A226
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Kent
- Medway
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 | 21 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 340 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.