Trunk A-road
A385 traffic and collisions
The A385 is a trunk A-road of 10.4 miles, from Torbay to Devon. This page covers its traffic at 7 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 40m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 10,552 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 19,881 C road towards Aish to A381
- HGV share 3.1% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −8.4% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 52 26.5 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A385?
On an average day in 2025, 10,552 vehicles passed each point on the A385, counting both directions. The busiest section is C road towards Aish to A381 (Devon), with 19,881 a day; the quietest listed is A384 to A385 split, with 5,760.
Busiest sections, 2025
C road towards Aish to A381 carries 1.9 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| C road towards Aish to A381 Devon · 1.8 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 19,881 |
| A381 to A384 Devon · 1.1 mi · HGVs 3.9% | 15,212 |
| Stoke Rd, Collaton St Mary to C-road towards Aish Torbay, Devon · 2.2 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 10,665 |
| A384 to A385 split Devon · 4.5 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 5,760 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Torbay to Devon · 10.4 miles
A385 traffic and collisions by section
6 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 | Stoke Rd to A380/A3022Torbay | 14,860 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | Stoke Rd, Collaton St Mary to C-road towards AishTorbay, Devon | 10,665 | 16 |
| 3 | C road towards Aish to A381Devon | 19,881 | 16 |
| 4 | A381 to A384Devon | 15,212 | 8 |
| 5 | A384 to A385 splitDevon | 5,760 | 9 |
| 6 | A38 to A385 spurDevon | 4,743 | fewer than 3 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A385 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.
A385 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 75.9% of the vehicle miles on the A385. HGVs account for 3.1%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.0% |
| 2001 | 3.8% |
| 2002 | 4.0% |
| 2003 | 4.0% |
| 2004 | 4.1% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 4.1% |
| 2007 | 4.3% |
| 2008 | 4.2% |
| 2009 | 3.9% |
| 2010 | 3.8% |
| 2011 | 3.7% |
| 2012 | 3.5% |
| 2013 | 3.7% |
| 2014 | 3.6% |
| 2015 | 3.9% |
| 2016 | 3.9% |
| 2017 | 3.9% |
| 2018 | 4.1% |
| 2019 | 4.0% |
| 2020 | 4.7% |
| 2021 | 3.7% |
| 2022 | 3.8% |
| 2023 | 3.2% |
| 2024 | 3.1% |
| 2025 | 3.1% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A385 traffic trend
Traffic on the A385 came to 40.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 8.4% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 9.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 8.4% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 43m |
| 2001 | 44m |
| 2002 | 46m |
| 2003 | 48m |
| 2004 | 48m |
| 2005 | 48m |
| 2006 | 48m |
| 2007 | 47m |
| 2008 | 46m |
| 2009 | 45m |
| 2010 | 43m |
| 2011 | 44m |
| 2012 | 48m |
| 2013 | 47m |
| 2014 | 48m |
| 2015 | 49m |
| 2016 | 49m |
| 2017 | 49m |
| 2018 | 48m |
| 2019 | 44m |
| 2020 | 34m |
| 2021 | 37m |
| 2022 | 40m |
| 2023 | 39m |
| 2024 | 40m |
| 2025 | 40m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 10,440 |
| 2001 | 10,796 |
| 2002 | 11,341 |
| 2003 | 11,710 |
| 2004 | 11,655 |
| 2005 | 11,646 |
| 2006 | 11,808 |
| 2007 | 11,521 |
| 2008 | 11,138 |
| 2009 | 10,904 |
| 2010 | 10,581 |
| 2011 | 10,762 |
| 2012 | 11,646 |
| 2013 | 11,544 |
| 2014 | 11,667 |
| 2015 | 12,077 |
| 2016 | 12,291 |
| 2017 | 12,292 |
| 2018 | 11,902 |
| 2019 | 11,519 |
| 2020 | 8,842 |
| 2021 | 9,720 |
| 2022 | 10,618 |
| 2023 | 10,308 |
| 2024 | 10,445 |
| 2025 | 10,552 |
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 7 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A385 collisions
Police recorded 52 collisions with the A385 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 15 of them fatal or serious. That is 26.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.0 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 36.4% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | 3 |
| 2022 | 7 | 4 |
| 2023 | 5 | 0 |
| 2024 | 7 | 3 |
| 2025 | 10 | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Stoke Rd, Collaton St Mary to C-road towards Aish Torbay, Devon · 16 collisions | 35.4 |
| C road towards Aish to A381 Devon · 16 collisions | 25.7 |
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 A385
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Torbay
- Devon
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 | 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 | 52 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.