A-road

A4251 traffic and collisions

The A4251 is an A-road of 11.9 miles, in Hertfordshire. This page covers its traffic at 11 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
11 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 48m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 10,926 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 19,793 A4146 to B4505
  • HGV share 1.3% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −6.8% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 89 38.7 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A4251?

On an average day in 2025, 10,926 vehicles passed each point on the A4251, counting both directions. The busiest section is A4146 to B4505 (Hertfordshire), with 19,793 a day; the quietest listed is B4506 to Boswick Lane, with 8,692.

Busiest sections, 2025

A4146 to B4505 carries 1.8 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A4251 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A4146 to B4505 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.6% 19,793
Home Park Mill Link Rd, Kings Langley to Nash Mills Lane, Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.1% 13,206
A416 to B4506 Hertfordshire · 1.2 mi · HGVs 1.1% 12,679
A414 to A4146 Hertfordshire · 0.5 mi · HGVs 0.8% 10,364
Nash Mills Lane to A414 Hertfordshire · 1.3 mi · HGVs 0.8% 10,256
Hall Park Gate to A416 Hertfordshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.0% 9,468
A41 / B4635 to Boswick Lane, Berkhamstead Hertfordshire · 2.4 mi · HGVs 1.4% 9,342
B4505 to A41 Hertfordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.8% 9,177
A41 to Hall Park Gate, Berkhamstead Hertfordshire · 1.7 mi · HGVs 1.7% 9,038
B4506 to Boswick Lane Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.4% 8,692

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Hertfordshire · 11.9 miles

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

A4251 traffic and collisions by section

11 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 A4251 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1M25 Jn20 to Home Park Mill Link Rd, Kings LangleyHertfordshire0.413,3381.1%−8.9%fewer than 3
2Home Park Mill Link Rd, Kings Langley to Nash Mills Lane, Hemel HempsteadHertfordshire1.613,2061.1%−8.9%1436.6
3Nash Mills Lane to A414Hertfordshire1.310,2560.8%−24.2%2084.9
4A414 to A4146Hertfordshire0.510,3640.8%−4.7%4
5A4146 to B4505Hertfordshire0.619,7931.6%−3.5%4
6B4505 to A41Hertfordshire0.79,1772.8%−7.0%6
7A41 to Hall Park Gate, BerkhamsteadHertfordshire1.79,0381.7%−7.3%6
8Hall Park Gate to A416Hertfordshire0.99,4681.0%−5.4%6
9A416 to B4506Hertfordshire1.212,6791.1%−5.1%1452.2
10B4506 to Boswick LaneHertfordshire0.68,6921.4%−5.6%0
11A41 / B4635 to Boswick Lane, BerkhamsteadHertfordshire2.49,3421.4%+6.2%1333.1

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A4251 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.

A4251 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 83.6% of the vehicle miles on the A4251. HGVs account for 1.3%, rising to 2.8% on B4505 to A41.

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 A4251, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.5%
2001 2.4%
2002 2.6%
2003 2.8%
2004 3.3%
2005 3.0%
2006 3.0%
2007 2.6%
2008 2.3%
2009 2.1%
2010 2.0%
2011 1.9%
2012 1.7%
2013 1.7%
2014 1.7%
2015 1.7%
2016 1.5%
2017 1.5%
2018 1.4%
2019 1.4%
2020 1.6%
2021 1.5%
2022 1.5%
2023 1.4%
2024 1.4%
2025 1.3%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A4251 traffic trend

Traffic on the A4251 came to 47.5 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 6.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 10.1% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 11.0% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A4251 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 52m
2001 51m
2002 51m
2003 50m
2004 51m
2005 51m
2006 51m
2007 52m
2008 51m
2009 52m
2010 51m
2011 52m
2012 51m
2013 50m
2014 52m
2015 52m
2016 52m
2017 51m
2018 51m
2019 51m
2020 39m
2021 43m
2022 46m
2023 47m
2024 47m
2025 48m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A4251, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 11,696
2001 11,620
2002 11,481
2003 11,356
2004 11,501
2005 11,612
2006 11,565
2007 11,715
2008 11,564
2009 11,656
2010 11,586
2011 11,670
2012 11,518
2013 11,353
2014 11,658
2015 11,716
2016 11,872
2017 11,641
2018 11,549
2019 11,727
2020 9,010
2021 9,859
2022 10,576
2023 10,780
2024 10,851
2025 10,926

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 11 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A4251 collisions

Police recorded 89 collisions with the A4251 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 31 of them fatal or serious. That is 38.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.5 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 21.4% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A4251 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 104
2022 127
2023 128
2024 154
2025 98

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 A4251, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
Nash Mills Lane to A414 Hertfordshire · 20 collisions 84.9
A416 to B4506 Hertfordshire · 14 collisions 52.2
Home Park Mill Link Rd, Kings Langley to Nash Mills Lane, Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire · 14 collisions 36.6
A41 / B4635 to Boswick Lane, Berkhamstead Hertfordshire · 13 collisions 33.1

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

A further 12 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A4251 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 A4251

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

  • 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 11 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 89 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.