A-road

A359 traffic and collisions

The A359 is an A-road of 23.4 miles, in Somerset. This page covers its traffic at 7 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
7 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 45m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 5,235 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 7,856 A303
  • HGV share 1.8% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +10.8% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 45 21.3 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A359?

On an average day in 2025, 5,235 vehicles passed each point on the A359, counting both directions. The busiest section is A303 (Somerset), with 7,856 a day; the quietest listed is A359 Cole Rd/Plox to A371, with 2,781.

Busiest sections, 2025

A303 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A359 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A303 Somerset · 7.3 mi · HGVs 1.3% 7,856
A359 spur to A303 Somerset · 0.8 mi · HGVs 2.4% 6,147
A371 to A359 Spur Somerset · 4.0 mi · HGVs 3.4% 5,256
High St to A361 Somerset · 7.4 mi · HGVs 1.7% 3,716
A359 Cole Rd/Plox to A371 Somerset · 3.4 mi · HGVs 1.8% 2,781

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Somerset · 23.4 miles

Somerset
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A359 traffic and collisions by section

6 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.1 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A359 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1High St to A361Somerset7.43,7161.7%+14.0%1633.2
2Plox to Patwell StSomerset0.45,2761.3%fewer than 3
3A359 Cole Rd/Plox to A371Somerset3.42,7811.8%+5.4%3
4A371 to A359 SpurSomerset4.05,2563.4%+10.1%6
5A359 spur to A303Somerset0.86,1472.4%+7.9%fewer than 3
6A303Somerset7.37,8561.3%1716.9

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A359 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.

A359 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 79.2% of the vehicle miles on the A359. HGVs account for 1.8%, rising to 3.4% on A371 to A359 Spur.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A359, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.8%
2001 2.4%
2002 2.3%
2003 2.1%
2004 2.3%
2005 2.4%
2006 2.8%
2007 2.7%
2008 2.8%
2009 2.7%
2010 2.8%
2011 2.7%
2012 2.7%
2013 2.1%
2014 2.1%
2015 2.1%
2016 2.2%
2017 2.2%
2018 2.0%
2019 2.0%
2020 2.5%
2021 2.3%
2022 2.2%
2023 2.0%
2024 2.0%
2025 1.8%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A359 traffic trend

Traffic on the A359 came to 44.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 10.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 1.1% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 11.8% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A359 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 44m
2001 42m
2002 43m
2003 46m
2004 46m
2005 46m
2006 43m
2007 47m
2008 46m
2009 46m
2010 45m
2011 46m
2012 46m
2013 47m
2014 47m
2015 48m
2016 49m
2017 48m
2018 47m
2019 47m
2020 34m
2021 39m
2022 42m
2023 43m
2024 43m
2025 45m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A359, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 4,952
2001 4,755
2002 4,839
2003 5,226
2004 5,217
2005 5,233
2006 4,895
2007 5,246
2008 5,126
2009 5,179
2010 5,108
2011 5,167
2012 5,129
2013 5,246
2014 5,335
2015 5,406
2016 5,531
2017 5,384
2018 5,369
2019 5,390
2020 3,887
2021 4,455
2022 4,799
2023 4,948
2024 5,019
2025 5,235

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 (67.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 2 of the 7 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A359 collisions

Police recorded 45 collisions with the A359 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 17 of them fatal or serious. That is 21.3 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.4 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 37.5% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A359 by year
Year Collisions
2021 8
2022 7
2023 9
2024 10
2025 11

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.

Collisions per 100 million vehicle miles by section of the A359, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
High St to A361 Somerset · 16 collisions 33.2
A303 Somerset · 17 collisions 16.9

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 8 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A359 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 A359

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • Somerset

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
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 7 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 45 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.