A-road
A348 traffic and collisions
The A348 is an A-road of 5.2 miles, from Dorset to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. This page covers its traffic at 6 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 44m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 23,319 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 38,426 A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout)
- HGV share 3.4% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −5.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 98 45.9 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A348?
On an average day in 2025, 23,319 vehicles passed each point on the A348, counting both directions. The busiest section is A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout) (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), with 38,426 a day; the quietest listed is A347 Penny's Hill Junction to Casrerbridge Rd, with 15,328.
Busiest sections, 2025
A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout) carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout) Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 1.2 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 38,426 |
| B3073 to A341 Bear Cross Roundabout Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 1.5 mi · HGVs 4.3% | 22,032 |
| A31 Trickett's Cross Roundabout to A347 Penny's Hill Junction Dorset · 1.2 mi · HGVs 3.1% | 18,937 |
| A347 Penny's Hill Junction to Casrerbridge Rd Dorset · 0.9 mi · HGVs 3.8% | 15,328 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Dorset to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 5.2 miles
A348 traffic and collisions by section
5 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 | A31 Trickett's Cross Roundabout to A347 Penny's Hill JunctionDorset | 18,937 | 14 |
| 2 | A347 Penny's Hill Junction to Casrerbridge RdDorset | 15,328 | 14 |
| 3 | Casrerbridge Rd to B3073 Ham LaneDorset | 13,949 | 5 |
| 4 | B3073 to A341 Bear Cross RoundaboutDorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 22,032 | 32 |
| 5 | A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout)Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 38,426 | 31 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A348 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.
A348 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 76.5% of the vehicle miles on the A348. HGVs account for 3.4%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.2% |
| 2001 | 4.4% |
| 2002 | 4.7% |
| 2003 | 4.6% |
| 2004 | 4.2% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 4.2% |
| 2007 | 4.1% |
| 2008 | 4.0% |
| 2009 | 3.6% |
| 2010 | 4.2% |
| 2011 | 4.2% |
| 2012 | 4.1% |
| 2013 | 4.0% |
| 2014 | 3.8% |
| 2015 | 3.7% |
| 2016 | 3.5% |
| 2017 | 3.4% |
| 2018 | 3.6% |
| 2019 | 3.6% |
| 2020 | 4.1% |
| 2021 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 3.8% |
| 2023 | 3.6% |
| 2024 | 3.5% |
| 2025 | 3.4% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A348 traffic trend
Traffic on the A348 came to 44.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 5.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 7.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 6.8% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 52m |
| 2001 | 52m |
| 2002 | 52m |
| 2003 | 53m |
| 2004 | 52m |
| 2005 | 50m |
| 2006 | 47m |
| 2007 | 47m |
| 2008 | 46m |
| 2009 | 48m |
| 2010 | 44m |
| 2011 | 45m |
| 2012 | 47m |
| 2013 | 48m |
| 2014 | 50m |
| 2015 | 51m |
| 2016 | 51m |
| 2017 | 50m |
| 2018 | 50m |
| 2019 | 47m |
| 2020 | 37m |
| 2021 | 40m |
| 2022 | 42m |
| 2023 | 43m |
| 2024 | 44m |
| 2025 | 44m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 26,510 |
| 2001 | 26,535 |
| 2002 | 26,411 |
| 2003 | 27,004 |
| 2004 | 26,130 |
| 2005 | 25,535 |
| 2006 | 24,393 |
| 2007 | 24,139 |
| 2008 | 23,794 |
| 2009 | 24,894 |
| 2010 | 22,924 |
| 2011 | 23,004 |
| 2012 | 24,512 |
| 2013 | 24,781 |
| 2014 | 25,663 |
| 2015 | 26,264 |
| 2016 | 26,510 |
| 2017 | 25,915 |
| 2018 | 25,337 |
| 2019 | 24,583 |
| 2020 | 19,437 |
| 2021 | 21,170 |
| 2022 | 22,240 |
| 2023 | 22,610 |
| 2024 | 23,211 |
| 2025 | 23,319 |
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 6 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A348 collisions
Police recorded 98 collisions with the A348 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 28 of them fatal or serious. That is 45.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 3.8 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 27.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 |
| 2022 | 17 |
| 2023 | 23 |
| 2024 | 20 |
| 2025 | 16 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A347 Penny's Hill Junction to Casrerbridge Rd Dorset · 14 collisions | 57.4 |
| B3073 to A341 Bear Cross Roundabout Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 32 collisions | 54.8 |
| A341 Bear Cross Roundabout to A3049 Wallisdown Road (roundabout) Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · 31 collisions | 37.7 |
| A31 Trickett's Cross Roundabout to A347 Penny's Hill Junction Dorset · 14 collisions | 36.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 12 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A348 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 98.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A348
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Dorset
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
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 | 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 | 98 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.