A-road

A409 traffic and collisions

The A409 is an A-road of 4.9 miles, from Harrow to Hertfordshire. This page covers its traffic at 5 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
5 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 24m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 13,624 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 17,018 A404 to A4005
  • HGV share 1.9% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −12.8% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 179 150.1 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A409?

On an average day in 2025, 13,624 vehicles passed each point on the A409, counting both directions. The busiest section is A404 to A4005 (Harrow), with 17,018 a day; the quietest listed is A410 to A4140, with 11,292.

Busiest sections, 2025

A404 to A4005 carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A409 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A404 to A4005 Harrow · 0.5 mi · HGVs 2.1% 17,018
A4005 to A410 Harrow · 2.0 mi · HGVs 2.1% 14,895
A4140 to A411 Harrow, Hertfordshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 1.8% 12,988
A410 to A4140 Harrow · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.6% 11,292

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Harrow to Hertfordshire · 4.9 miles

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

A409 traffic and collisions by section

4 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
Sections of the A409 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A404 to A4005Harrow0.517,0182.1%−17.4%39247.7
2A4005 to A410Harrow2.014,8952.1%−7.5%116223.2
3A410 to A4140Harrow1.611,2921.6%−17.4%1855.3
4A4140 to A411Harrow, Hertfordshire0.812,9881.8%−14.7%5

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A409 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.

A409 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 79.6% of the vehicle miles on the A409. HGVs account for 1.9%.

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 A409, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.9%
2001 3.1%
2002 2.9%
2003 2.4%
2004 2.7%
2005 3.6%
2006 3.5%
2007 2.3%
2008 2.3%
2009 2.1%
2010 2.3%
2011 2.2%
2012 2.4%
2013 2.5%
2014 2.3%
2015 2.3%
2016 2.2%
2017 2.1%
2018 2.0%
2019 1.7%
2020 1.9%
2021 1.9%
2022 1.9%
2023 1.9%
2024 1.9%
2025 1.9%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A409 traffic trend

Traffic on the A409 came to 24.4 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 12.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 7.3% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 15.5% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A409 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 29m
2001 29m
2002 29m
2003 29m
2004 29m
2005 28m
2006 29m
2007 26m
2008 26m
2009 25m
2010 24m
2011 26m
2012 26m
2013 26m
2014 26m
2015 26m
2016 27m
2017 27m
2018 27m
2019 28m
2020 22m
2021 23m
2022 24m
2023 24m
2024 25m
2025 24m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A409, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 16,121
2001 16,187
2002 16,213
2003 15,970
2004 16,132
2005 15,769
2006 15,933
2007 14,595
2008 14,281
2009 14,144
2010 13,484
2011 14,788
2012 14,548
2013 14,658
2014 14,702
2015 14,692
2016 15,198
2017 15,151
2018 15,143
2019 15,625
2020 12,110
2021 12,801
2022 13,268
2023 13,152
2024 13,855
2025 13,624

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, 1 of the 5 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A409 collisions

Police recorded 179 collisions with the A409 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 31 of them fatal or serious. That is 150.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 7.3 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 2.5% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A409 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 346
2022 315
2023 296
2024 227
2025 327

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 A409, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A404 to A4005 Harrow · 39 collisions 247.7
A4005 to A410 Harrow · 116 collisions 223.2
A410 to A4140 Harrow · 18 collisions 55.3

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

A further 33 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A409 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 99.4% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A409

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

  • Harrow
  • Hertfordshire

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 5 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 179 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.