A-road
A273 traffic and collisions
The A273 is an A-road of 9.9 miles, in West Sussex. This page covers its traffic at 8 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 43m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 11,813 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 14,733 Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess Hill
- HGV share 2.3% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +3.5% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 54 26.6 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A273?
On an average day in 2025, 11,813 vehicles passed each point on the A273, counting both directions. The busiest section is Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess Hill (West Sussex), with 14,733 a day; the quietest listed is A272 Traustein Way to B2036 Cuckfield Rd, with 10,104.
Busiest sections, 2025
Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess Hill carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess Hill West Sussex · 1.2 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 14,733 |
| Shepherds Walk to B2116 West Sussex · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 13,798 |
| B2036 Cuckfield Rd to A2300 West Sussex · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 13,706 |
| A2300 to B2036 London Rd West Sussex · 2.1 mi · HGVs 2.5% | 13,576 |
| B2116 to A23 West Sussex · 2.1 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 10,118 |
| A272 Traustein Way to B2036 Cuckfield Rd West Sussex · 2.2 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 10,104 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In West Sussex · 9.9 miles
A273 traffic and collisions by section
7 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.6 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A272 Traustein Way to B2036 Cuckfield RdWest Sussex | 10,104 | 9 |
| 2 | B2036 Cuckfield Rd to A2300West Sussex | 13,706 | 0 |
| 3 | A2300 to B2036 London RdWest Sussex | 13,576 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess HillWest Sussex | 14,733 | 13 |
| 5 | Shepherds Walk to B2116West Sussex | 13,798 | 5 |
| 6 | B2116 to A23West Sussex | 10,118 | 18 |
| 7 | A23 main route to A23 spurWest Sussex | 18,764 | 6 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A273 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.
A273 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.7% of the vehicle miles on the A273. HGVs account for 2.3%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.6% |
| 2001 | 2.7% |
| 2002 | 2.7% |
| 2003 | 2.7% |
| 2004 | 2.7% |
| 2005 | 2.7% |
| 2006 | 2.8% |
| 2007 | 3.1% |
| 2008 | 3.1% |
| 2009 | 2.7% |
| 2010 | 2.8% |
| 2011 | 2.8% |
| 2012 | 2.8% |
| 2013 | 2.8% |
| 2014 | 2.8% |
| 2015 | 2.4% |
| 2016 | 2.1% |
| 2017 | 2.1% |
| 2018 | 2.3% |
| 2019 | 2.3% |
| 2020 | 2.8% |
| 2021 | 2.7% |
| 2022 | 2.5% |
| 2023 | 2.4% |
| 2024 | 2.3% |
| 2025 | 2.3% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A273 traffic trend
Traffic on the A273 came to 42.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 3.5% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 4.3% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 0.8% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 40m |
| 2001 | 40m |
| 2002 | 40m |
| 2003 | 41m |
| 2004 | 44m |
| 2005 | 44m |
| 2006 | 44m |
| 2007 | 43m |
| 2008 | 42m |
| 2009 | 40m |
| 2010 | 40m |
| 2011 | 40m |
| 2012 | 40m |
| 2013 | 40m |
| 2014 | 41m |
| 2015 | 42m |
| 2016 | 47m |
| 2017 | 45m |
| 2018 | 45m |
| 2019 | 46m |
| 2020 | 33m |
| 2021 | 37m |
| 2022 | 41m |
| 2023 | 41m |
| 2024 | 42m |
| 2025 | 43m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 11,660 |
| 2001 | 11,713 |
| 2002 | 11,768 |
| 2003 | 11,867 |
| 2004 | 12,704 |
| 2005 | 12,865 |
| 2006 | 12,775 |
| 2007 | 12,525 |
| 2008 | 12,259 |
| 2009 | 11,761 |
| 2010 | 11,659 |
| 2011 | 11,742 |
| 2012 | 11,719 |
| 2013 | 11,734 |
| 2014 | 12,054 |
| 2015 | 12,497 |
| 2016 | 13,890 |
| 2017 | 12,539 |
| 2018 | 12,398 |
| 2019 | 12,626 |
| 2020 | 9,098 |
| 2021 | 10,092 |
| 2022 | 11,224 |
| 2023 | 11,464 |
| 2024 | 11,544 |
| 2025 | 11,813 |
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 (56.6% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 8 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A273 collisions
Police recorded 54 collisions with the A273 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 11 of them fatal or serious. That is 26.6 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.1 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 33.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2022 | 12 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 12 |
| 2025 | 8 |
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 |
|---|---|
| B2116 to A23 West Sussex · 18 collisions | 48.3 |
| Shepherds Walk, Hassocks to B2036 London Rd, Burgess Hill West Sussex · 13 collisions | 43.6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A273
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- 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 | 8 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 54 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.