A-road

A246 traffic and collisions

The A246 is an A-road of 10.2 miles, in Surrey. 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 55m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 14,780 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 15,478 Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road)
  • HGV share 1.2% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −3.4% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 81 34.2 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A246?

On an average day in 2025, 14,780 vehicles passed each point on the A246, counting both directions. The busiest section is Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road) (Surrey), with 15,478 a day; the quietest listed is A246 Waterden Rd to A25 Boxgrove Rd, with 11,047.

Busiest sections, 2025

Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road) carries 1.0 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A246 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road) Surrey · 8.6 mi · HGVs 1.2% 15,478
A246 Waterden Rd to A25 Boxgrove Rd Surrey · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.8% 11,047

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Surrey · 10.2 miles

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

A246 traffic and collisions by section

5 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.2 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A246 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road)Surrey8.615,4781.2%49100.9
2A246 Waterden Rd to A25 Boxgrove RdSurrey0.711,0470.8%−6.4%1073.1
3A25 to A3100Surrey0.26,1431.0%−5.7%0
4A3100 to A320Surrey0.313,6610.6%+2.8%11
5A320 to A322Surrey0.217,8871.2%−1.6%5

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A246 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.

A246 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 84.3% of the vehicle miles on the A246. HGVs account for 1.2%.

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 A246, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.6%
2001 2.6%
2002 2.6%
2003 2.5%
2004 2.8%
2005 2.8%
2006 2.3%
2007 2.4%
2008 2.1%
2009 1.7%
2010 1.8%
2011 1.8%
2012 1.6%
2013 1.6%
2014 1.6%
2015 1.5%
2016 1.4%
2017 1.4%
2018 1.4%
2019 1.4%
2020 1.6%
2021 1.6%
2022 1.5%
2023 1.3%
2024 1.1%
2025 1.2%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A246 traffic trend

Traffic on the A246 came to 55 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.4% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.3% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 8.2% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A246 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 45m
2001 46m
2002 46m
2003 46m
2004 46m
2005 46m
2006 47m
2007 46m
2008 45m
2009 43m
2010 43m
2011 44m
2012 43m
2013 44m
2014 45m
2015 46m
2016 46m
2017 48m
2018 48m
2019 51m
2020 39m
2021 40m
2022 43m
2023 45m
2024 55m
2025 55m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A246, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 13,159
2001 13,437
2002 13,558
2003 13,663
2004 13,573
2005 13,678
2006 13,874
2007 13,470
2008 13,188
2009 12,703
2010 12,616
2011 13,025
2012 12,750
2013 12,918
2014 13,258
2015 13,415
2016 13,604
2017 14,095
2018 14,034
2019 13,936
2020 10,575
2021 10,930
2022 11,750
2023 12,120
2024 14,820
2025 14,780

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 (15.7% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 6 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A246 collisions

Police recorded 81 collisions with the A246 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 24 of them fatal or serious. That is 34.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.6 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 51.9% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A246 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 216
2022 76
2023 114
2024 103
2025 85

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 A246, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
Junction A25/A247/A246 to Effingham (A246 intersection with The Street, Minor Road) Surrey · 49 collisions 100.9
A246 Waterden Rd to A25 Boxgrove Rd Surrey · 10 collisions 73.1

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 25 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A246 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 92.6% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A246

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

  • Surrey

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 81 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.