A-road
A260 traffic and collisions
The A260 is an A-road of 11.4 miles, in Kent. This page covers its traffic at 13 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 39m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 9,401 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 14,816 A20(T) to A259(T)
- HGV share 1.9% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +4.9% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 95 53.5 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A260?
On an average day in 2025, 9,401 vehicles passed each point on the A260, counting both directions. The busiest section is A20(T) to A259(T) (Kent), with 14,816 a day; the quietest listed is A2033 to A2060, with 4,512.
Busiest sections, 2025
A20(T) to A259(T) carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A20(T) to A259(T) Kent · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.6% | 14,816 |
| Wear Bay Road to B 2011 Kent · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 10,809 |
| Pay Street to A20(T) Kent · 2.1 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 10,500 |
| A2 slip to Pay Street Kent · 5.2 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 8,534 |
| A260 Old Dover Road to A2 slip Kent · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.5% | 8,210 |
| A2033 to A2060 Kent · 0.6 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 4,512 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Kent · 11.4 miles
A260 traffic and collisions by section
11 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.4 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A260 split to A2Kent | 8,824 | 0 |
| 2 | A260 Old Dover Road to A2 slipKent | 8,210 | 9 |
| 3 | A2 slip to Pay StreetKent | 8,534 | 21 |
| 4 | Pay Street to A20(T)Kent | 10,500 | 13 |
| 5 | A260 bridge to A20 slips midpointKent | 18,056 | fewer than 3 |
| 6 | A20(T) to A259(T)Kent | 14,816 | 19 |
| 7 | A259(T) to B2011Kent | 16,129 | 6 |
| 8 | Wear Bay Road to B 2011Kent | 10,809 | 0 |
| 9 | Wear Bay Rd to A2033Kent | 8,863 | 3 |
| 10 | A2033 to A2060Kent | 4,512 | 16 |
| 11 | A260 Harbour Approach to A2033Kent | 4,336 | 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 A260 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.
A260 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.5% of the vehicle miles on the A260. HGVs account for 1.9%, rising to 3.5% on A260 Old Dover Road to A2 slip.
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 | 3.7% |
| 2003 | 3.5% |
| 2004 | 3.0% |
| 2005 | 2.5% |
| 2006 | 2.5% |
| 2007 | 3.3% |
| 2008 | 3.3% |
| 2009 | 3.0% |
| 2010 | 3.0% |
| 2011 | 3.0% |
| 2012 | 3.1% |
| 2013 | 3.2% |
| 2014 | 3.1% |
| 2015 | 3.0% |
| 2016 | 2.4% |
| 2017 | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 2.4% |
| 2020 | 2.8% |
| 2021 | 2.7% |
| 2022 | 2.6% |
| 2023 | 2.4% |
| 2024 | 1.9% |
| 2025 | 1.9% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A260 traffic trend
Traffic on the A260 came to 39.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 4.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 7.0% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 23.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 30m |
| 2001 | 30m |
| 2002 | 33m |
| 2003 | 33m |
| 2004 | 35m |
| 2005 | 35m |
| 2006 | 36m |
| 2007 | 37m |
| 2008 | 36m |
| 2009 | 35m |
| 2010 | 33m |
| 2011 | 33m |
| 2012 | 33m |
| 2013 | 33m |
| 2014 | 34m |
| 2015 | 35m |
| 2016 | 36m |
| 2017 | 37m |
| 2018 | 38m |
| 2019 | 37m |
| 2020 | 28m |
| 2021 | 31m |
| 2022 | 34m |
| 2023 | 35m |
| 2024 | 39m |
| 2025 | 39m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 7,535 |
| 2001 | 7,561 |
| 2002 | 8,170 |
| 2003 | 8,396 |
| 2004 | 8,696 |
| 2005 | 8,775 |
| 2006 | 9,032 |
| 2007 | 9,008 |
| 2008 | 8,773 |
| 2009 | 8,725 |
| 2010 | 8,087 |
| 2011 | 8,190 |
| 2012 | 8,066 |
| 2013 | 8,067 |
| 2014 | 8,350 |
| 2015 | 8,736 |
| 2016 | 8,868 |
| 2017 | 8,952 |
| 2018 | 9,024 |
| 2019 | 8,963 |
| 2020 | 6,772 |
| 2021 | 7,489 |
| 2022 | 8,150 |
| 2023 | 8,333 |
| 2024 | 9,301 |
| 2025 | 9,401 |
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, 0 of the 13 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A260 collisions
Police recorded 95 collisions with the A260 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 26 of them fatal or serious. That is 53.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher 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 33.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | 3 |
| 2022 | 15 | 4 |
| 2023 | 22 | 8 |
| 2024 | 8 | 8 |
| 2025 | 9 | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A2033 to A2060 Kent · 16 collisions | 340.6 |
| A20(T) to A259(T) Kent · 19 collisions | 92.9 |
| Pay Street to A20(T) Kent · 13 collisions | 33.6 |
| A2 slip to Pay Street Kent · 21 collisions | 30.6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 6 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A260 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 A260
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Kent
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 | 13 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 95 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.