A-road
A281 traffic and collisions
The A281 is an A-road of 35.3 miles, from Surrey to West Sussex. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 131m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 10,186 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 24,232 B2237 to East Street
- HGV share 2.7% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −3.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 226 36.3 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A281?
On an average day in 2025, 10,186 vehicles passed each point on the A281, counting both directions. The busiest section is B2237 to East Street (West Sussex), with 24,232 a day; the quietest listed is B2115 to B2119, with 4,806.
Busiest sections, 2025
B2237 to East Street carries 2.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| B2237 to East Street West Sussex · 0.5 mi · HGVs 0.4% | 24,232 |
| A248 to A322/A3100 Surrey · 1.8 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 16,901 |
| A24 to B2237 West Sussex · 1.1 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 15,080 |
| A248 to Chestnut Way Surrey · 2.1 mi · HGVs 3.0% | 14,613 |
| A29 to A264 West Sussex · 2.2 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 12,777 |
| East St to Kerves Lane West Sussex · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.1% | 11,575 |
| Kerves Lane, Horsham to B2115 West Sussex · 2.9 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 9,790 |
| Chestnut Way to A29 Surrey, West Sussex · 11.5 mi · HGVs 4.2% | 9,505 |
| B2116 to A2037 West Sussex · 1.1 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 9,061 |
| A272W to B2110 West Sussex · 2.4 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 8,640 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Surrey to West Sussex · 35.3 miles
A281 traffic and collisions by section
14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A248 to A322/A3100Surrey | 16,901 | 26 |
| 2 | A248 Broadford Rd to A248 Kings RdSurrey | 26,582 | 0 |
| 3 | A248 to Chestnut WaySurrey | 14,613 | 15 |
| 4 | Chestnut Way to A29Surrey, West Sussex | 9,505 | 51 |
| 5 | A29 to A264West Sussex | 12,777 | 11 |
| 6 | A24 to B2237West Sussex | 15,080 | 21 |
| 7 | B2237 to East StreetWest Sussex | 24,232 | 3 |
| 8 | East St to Kerves LaneWest Sussex | 11,575 | 15 |
| 9 | Kerves Lane, Horsham to B2115West Sussex | 9,790 | 20 |
| 10 | B2115 to B2119West Sussex | 4,806 | 3 |
| 11 | A272W to B2110West Sussex | 8,640 | 9 |
| 12 | A272E to B2116West Sussex | 5,379 | 20 |
| 13 | B2116 to A2037West Sussex | 9,061 | 6 |
| 14 | A2037 to A23West Sussex | 8,558 | 26 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A281 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.
A281 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 78.7% of the vehicle miles on the A281. HGVs account for 2.7%, rising to 4.2% on Chestnut Way to A29.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.8% |
| 2001 | 3.6% |
| 2002 | 3.6% |
| 2003 | 3.8% |
| 2004 | 3.9% |
| 2005 | 3.7% |
| 2006 | 3.6% |
| 2007 | 3.7% |
| 2008 | 3.5% |
| 2009 | 3.2% |
| 2010 | 3.3% |
| 2011 | 3.3% |
| 2012 | 3.1% |
| 2013 | 3.2% |
| 2014 | 3.1% |
| 2015 | 3.0% |
| 2016 | 3.0% |
| 2017 | 3.0% |
| 2018 | 3.1% |
| 2019 | 3.1% |
| 2020 | 3.5% |
| 2021 | 3.4% |
| 2022 | 3.2% |
| 2023 | 3.0% |
| 2024 | 2.8% |
| 2025 | 2.7% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A281 traffic trend
Traffic on the A281 came to 131 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 5.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 7.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 146m |
| 2001 | 145m |
| 2002 | 145m |
| 2003 | 155m |
| 2004 | 152m |
| 2005 | 150m |
| 2006 | 153m |
| 2007 | 154m |
| 2008 | 145m |
| 2009 | 142m |
| 2010 | 141m |
| 2011 | 143m |
| 2012 | 141m |
| 2013 | 140m |
| 2014 | 143m |
| 2015 | 143m |
| 2016 | 147m |
| 2017 | 147m |
| 2018 | 141m |
| 2019 | 140m |
| 2020 | 103m |
| 2021 | 114m |
| 2022 | 123m |
| 2023 | 125m |
| 2024 | 129m |
| 2025 | 131m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 11,312 |
| 2001 | 11,217 |
| 2002 | 11,198 |
| 2003 | 12,030 |
| 2004 | 11,794 |
| 2005 | 11,623 |
| 2006 | 11,828 |
| 2007 | 11,914 |
| 2008 | 11,197 |
| 2009 | 10,994 |
| 2010 | 10,936 |
| 2011 | 11,033 |
| 2012 | 10,892 |
| 2013 | 10,805 |
| 2014 | 11,034 |
| 2015 | 11,031 |
| 2016 | 11,374 |
| 2017 | 11,394 |
| 2018 | 10,845 |
| 2019 | 10,867 |
| 2020 | 8,017 |
| 2021 | 8,841 |
| 2022 | 9,589 |
| 2023 | 9,744 |
| 2024 | 10,074 |
| 2025 | 10,186 |
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 (87.8% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A281 collisions
Police recorded 226 collisions with the A281 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 79 of them fatal or serious, including 8 fatal. That is 36.3 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.3 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 4.5% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | 14 |
| 2022 | 29 | 25 |
| 2023 | 28 | 14 |
| 2024 | 29 | 11 |
| 2025 | 31 | 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 |
|---|---|
| A248 to Chestnut Way Surrey · 15 collisions | 133.9 |
| A29 to A264 West Sussex · 11 collisions | 107.2 |
| East St to Kerves Lane West Sussex · 15 collisions | 104.7 |
| A24 to B2237 West Sussex · 21 collisions | 71.6 |
| A272E to B2116 West Sussex · 20 collisions | 57.4 |
| A248 to A322/A3100 Surrey · 26 collisions | 48.3 |
| Kerves Lane, Horsham to B2115 West Sussex · 20 collisions | 40.2 |
| A2037 to A23 West Sussex · 26 collisions | 38.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 18 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A281 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 100.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A281
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Surrey
- 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 | 15 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 226 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.