A-road
A270 traffic and collisions
The A270 is an A-road of 9.2 miles, from Brighton and Hove to West Sussex. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 55m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 16,343 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 22,359 A293 to A27
- HGV share 1.7% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −3.7% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 346 131.6 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A270?
On an average day in 2025, 16,343 vehicles passed each point on the A270, counting both directions. The busiest section is A293 to A27 (Brighton and Hove, West Sussex), with 22,359 a day; the quietest listed is A2010 to A2023, with 11,036.
Busiest sections, 2025
A293 to A27 carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A293 to A27 Brighton and Hove, West Sussex · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 22,359 |
| A2023 to A2038 Brighton and Hove · 1.2 mi · HGVs 0.7% | 18,004 |
| A270 Fork to A27 Brighton and Hove · 2.5 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 17,227 |
| A279 Upper Lewes Road to A23 St. Peters Place Brighton and Hove · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 11,459 |
| A2010 to A2023 Brighton and Hove · 1.3 mi · HGVs 0.9% | 11,036 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Brighton and Hove to West Sussex · 9.2 miles
A270 traffic and collisions by section
9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.6 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A270 Fork to A27Brighton and Hove | 17,227 | 104 |
| 2 | A279 Upper Lewes Road to A23 St. Peters PlaceBrighton and Hove | 11,459 | 75 |
| 3 | A270-New England Road to A23 London RoadBrighton and Hove | 8,704 | 7 |
| 4 | A270 to A2010Brighton and Hove | 15,146 | 15 |
| 5 | A2010 to A2023Brighton and Hove | 11,036 | 45 |
| 6 | A2023 to A2038Brighton and Hove | 18,004 | 32 |
| 7 | A2038 to A293Brighton and Hove | 27,968 | fewer than 3 |
| 8 | At A293Brighton and Hove | 29,255 | 12 |
| 9 | A293 to A27Brighton and Hove, West Sussex | 22,359 | 35 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A270 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.
A270 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 76.3% of the vehicle miles on the A270. HGVs account for 1.7%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.8% |
| 2001 | 2.0% |
| 2002 | 1.8% |
| 2003 | 1.9% |
| 2004 | 2.0% |
| 2005 | 1.9% |
| 2006 | 1.8% |
| 2007 | 1.7% |
| 2008 | 1.8% |
| 2009 | 1.8% |
| 2010 | 1.7% |
| 2011 | 1.7% |
| 2012 | 1.5% |
| 2013 | 1.6% |
| 2014 | 1.6% |
| 2015 | 1.6% |
| 2016 | 1.6% |
| 2017 | 1.6% |
| 2018 | 1.4% |
| 2019 | 1.4% |
| 2020 | 1.6% |
| 2021 | 1.5% |
| 2022 | 1.5% |
| 2023 | 1.8% |
| 2024 | 1.7% |
| 2025 | 1.7% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A270 traffic trend
Traffic on the A270 came to 54.9 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 11.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 27.2% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 71m |
| 2001 | 73m |
| 2002 | 73m |
| 2003 | 73m |
| 2004 | 74m |
| 2005 | 69m |
| 2006 | 72m |
| 2007 | 67m |
| 2008 | 62m |
| 2009 | 62m |
| 2010 | 62m |
| 2011 | 63m |
| 2012 | 63m |
| 2013 | 63m |
| 2014 | 64m |
| 2015 | 61m |
| 2016 | 60m |
| 2017 | 60m |
| 2018 | 58m |
| 2019 | 57m |
| 2020 | 44m |
| 2021 | 48m |
| 2022 | 52m |
| 2023 | 53m |
| 2024 | 54m |
| 2025 | 55m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 21,782 |
| 2001 | 22,520 |
| 2002 | 22,451 |
| 2003 | 22,603 |
| 2004 | 22,769 |
| 2005 | 22,368 |
| 2006 | 21,408 |
| 2007 | 20,001 |
| 2008 | 18,515 |
| 2009 | 18,594 |
| 2010 | 18,394 |
| 2011 | 18,639 |
| 2012 | 18,753 |
| 2013 | 18,648 |
| 2014 | 19,043 |
| 2015 | 18,216 |
| 2016 | 17,767 |
| 2017 | 17,911 |
| 2018 | 16,806 |
| 2019 | 16,963 |
| 2020 | 13,128 |
| 2021 | 14,419 |
| 2022 | 15,496 |
| 2023 | 15,849 |
| 2024 | 16,190 |
| 2025 | 16,343 |
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 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A270 collisions
Police recorded 346 collisions with the A270 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 111 of them fatal or serious. That is 131.6 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 7.5 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 19.4% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | 23 |
| 2022 | 49 | 29 |
| 2023 | 46 | 27 |
| 2024 | 57 | 17 |
| 2025 | 39 | 15 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A279 Upper Lewes Road to A23 St. Peters Place Brighton and Hove · 75 collisions | 531.2 |
| A2010 to A2023 Brighton and Hove · 45 collisions | 185.9 |
| A270 Fork to A27 Brighton and Hove · 104 collisions | 135.7 |
| A2023 to A2038 Brighton and Hove · 32 collisions | 83.9 |
| A293 to A27 Brighton and Hove, West Sussex · 35 collisions | 55.7 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 64 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A270 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 A270
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Brighton and Hove
- West Sussex
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 | 12 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 346 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.