Trunk A-road
A388 traffic and collisions
The A388 is a trunk A-road of 53.3 miles, from Devon to Cornwall. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 127m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 6,511 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 16,073 A390 to A38(T)
- HGV share 4.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +11.7% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 177 29.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A388?
On an average day in 2025, 6,511 vehicles passed each point on the A388, counting both directions. The busiest section is A390 to A38(T) (Cornwall), with 16,073 a day; the quietest listed is A3072, with 3,350.
Busiest sections, 2025
A390 to A38(T) carries 2.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A390 to A38(T) Cornwall · 7.5 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 16,073 |
| B3257 to A390 Cornwall · 2.7 mi · HGVs 3.8% | 10,918 |
| A30 to B3362 Cornwall · 1.4 mi · HGVs 6.3% | 10,581 |
| B3362 to B3257 Cornwall · 6.2 mi · HGVs 6.5% | 7,799 |
| A388/ Exeter St to A30 Cornwall · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.7% | 5,597 |
| A3072 to B3254 Devon, Cornwall · 12.8 mi · HGVs 5.5% | 3,615 |
| A3072 Devon · 16.3 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 3,350 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Devon to Cornwall · 53.3 miles
A388 traffic and collisions by section
10 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 4 short link roads and spurs (4.5 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A3072Devon | 3,350 | 30 |
| 2 | At A3072Devon | 5,013 | 6 |
| 3 | A3072 to B3254Devon, Cornwall | 3,615 | 23 |
| 4 | B3254 to A388 Wooda RdCornwall | 16,491 | fewer than 3 |
| 5 | A388 St Thomas Rd to A388/Exeter StCornwall | 2,698 | 3 |
| 6 | A388/ Exeter St to A30Cornwall | 5,597 | 3 |
| 7 | A30 to B3362Cornwall | 10,581 | 11 |
| 8 | B3362 to B3257Cornwall | 7,799 | 32 |
| 9 | B3257 to A390Cornwall | 10,918 | 18 |
| 10 | A390 to A38(T)Cornwall | 16,073 | 36 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A388 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.
A388 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 74.8% of the vehicle miles on the A388. HGVs account for 4.5%, rising to 6.5% on B3362 to B3257.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 5.7% |
| 2001 | 5.3% |
| 2002 | 5.7% |
| 2003 | 5.3% |
| 2004 | 4.8% |
| 2005 | 4.7% |
| 2006 | 4.7% |
| 2007 | 5.0% |
| 2008 | 5.0% |
| 2009 | 4.8% |
| 2010 | 5.1% |
| 2011 | 5.2% |
| 2012 | 5.0% |
| 2013 | 4.8% |
| 2014 | 4.8% |
| 2015 | 4.8% |
| 2016 | 4.8% |
| 2017 | 4.9% |
| 2018 | 4.8% |
| 2019 | 4.8% |
| 2020 | 5.5% |
| 2021 | 5.1% |
| 2022 | 4.8% |
| 2023 | 4.6% |
| 2024 | 4.5% |
| 2025 | 4.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A388 traffic trend
Traffic on the A388 came to 127 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 11.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 13.8% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 37.7% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 92m |
| 2001 | 96m |
| 2002 | 104m |
| 2003 | 106m |
| 2004 | 104m |
| 2005 | 108m |
| 2006 | 114m |
| 2007 | 111m |
| 2008 | 112m |
| 2009 | 113m |
| 2010 | 105m |
| 2011 | 107m |
| 2012 | 108m |
| 2013 | 108m |
| 2014 | 110m |
| 2015 | 110m |
| 2016 | 112m |
| 2017 | 111m |
| 2018 | 113m |
| 2019 | 113m |
| 2020 | 87m |
| 2021 | 105m |
| 2022 | 117m |
| 2023 | 122m |
| 2024 | 125m |
| 2025 | 127m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4,724 |
| 2001 | 4,938 |
| 2002 | 5,331 |
| 2003 | 5,471 |
| 2004 | 5,374 |
| 2005 | 5,555 |
| 2006 | 5,864 |
| 2007 | 5,715 |
| 2008 | 5,757 |
| 2009 | 5,794 |
| 2010 | 5,422 |
| 2011 | 5,483 |
| 2012 | 5,551 |
| 2013 | 5,548 |
| 2014 | 5,637 |
| 2015 | 5,658 |
| 2016 | 5,771 |
| 2017 | 5,697 |
| 2018 | 5,826 |
| 2019 | 5,823 |
| 2020 | 4,488 |
| 2021 | 5,396 |
| 2022 | 6,012 |
| 2023 | 6,289 |
| 2024 | 6,432 |
| 2025 | 6,511 |
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 (69.4% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 0 of the 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A388 collisions
Police recorded 177 collisions with the A388 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 43 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 29.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.7 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 25.6% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | 13 |
| 2022 | 20 | 9 |
| 2023 | 36 | 9 |
| 2024 | 22 | 6 |
| 2025 | 26 | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A30 to B3362 Cornwall · 11 collisions | 47.9 |
| B3362 to B3257 Cornwall · 32 collisions | 39.9 |
| B3257 to A390 Cornwall · 18 collisions | 34.8 |
| A3072 Devon · 30 collisions | 32.4 |
| A3072 to B3254 Devon, Cornwall · 23 collisions | 28.3 |
| A390 to A38(T) Cornwall · 36 collisions | 17.0 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 15 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A388 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 A388
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Devon
- Cornwall
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 | 177 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.