A-road
A4540 traffic and collisions
The A4540 is an A-road of 8.3 miles, in Birmingham. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 118m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 38,895 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 56,448 A45 to A47
- HGV share 2.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +2.2% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 516 91.8 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A4540?
On an average day in 2025, 38,895 vehicles passed each point on the A4540, counting both directions. The busiest section is A45 to A47 (Birmingham), with 56,448 a day; the quietest listed is A435 to A41, with 14,024.
Busiest sections, 2025
A45 to A47 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A45 to A47 Birmingham · 1.1 mi · HGVs 4.4% | 56,448 |
| A41 to A45 Birmingham · 0.5 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 41,293 |
| A41 to A4540 Belgrave Middleway Birmingham · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 38,582 |
| A34 to A4540 link to Icknield St Birmingham · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.5% | 29,340 |
| A435 to A41 Birmingham · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 14,024 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Birmingham · 8.3 miles
A4540 traffic and collisions by section
8 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 7 short link roads and spurs (3.8 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A435 to A41Birmingham | 14,024 | 51 |
| 2 | A41 to A4540 Belgrave MiddlewayBirmingham | 38,582 | 32 |
| 3 | A41 to A45Birmingham | 41,293 | 42 |
| 4 | A45 to A47Birmingham | 56,448 | 79 |
| 5 | A47 to B4133Birmingham | 35,141 | 15 |
| 6 | B4133 to A38(M)Birmingham | 38,298 | 25 |
| 7 | A38(M) to A34Birmingham | 36,314 | 22 |
| 8 | A34 to A4540 link to Icknield StBirmingham | 29,340 | 29 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A4540 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.
A4540 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 84.1% of the vehicle miles on the A4540. HGVs account for 2.5%, rising to 4.4% on A45 to A47.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.5% |
| 2001 | 3.5% |
| 2002 | 3.7% |
| 2003 | 4.6% |
| 2004 | 4.9% |
| 2005 | 3.7% |
| 2006 | 3.5% |
| 2007 | 3.7% |
| 2008 | 3.5% |
| 2009 | 2.8% |
| 2010 | 2.8% |
| 2011 | 3.1% |
| 2012 | 3.0% |
| 2013 | 3.1% |
| 2014 | 3.5% |
| 2015 | 3.8% |
| 2016 | 3.2% |
| 2017 | 3.2% |
| 2018 | 3.4% |
| 2019 | 3.3% |
| 2020 | 3.7% |
| 2021 | 3.5% |
| 2022 | 3.4% |
| 2023 | 3.2% |
| 2024 | 2.9% |
| 2025 | 2.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A4540 traffic trend
Traffic on the A4540 came to 118 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 2.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 8.4% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 8.0% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 101m |
| 2001 | 102m |
| 2002 | 103m |
| 2003 | 110m |
| 2004 | 110m |
| 2005 | 107m |
| 2006 | 107m |
| 2007 | 106m |
| 2008 | 101m |
| 2009 | 103m |
| 2010 | 102m |
| 2011 | 102m |
| 2012 | 101m |
| 2013 | 100m |
| 2014 | 101m |
| 2015 | 101m |
| 2016 | 102m |
| 2017 | 104m |
| 2018 | 112m |
| 2019 | 115m |
| 2020 | 91m |
| 2021 | 101m |
| 2022 | 112m |
| 2023 | 116m |
| 2024 | 116m |
| 2025 | 118m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 34,624 |
| 2001 | 34,768 |
| 2002 | 35,359 |
| 2003 | 37,574 |
| 2004 | 37,617 |
| 2005 | 36,488 |
| 2006 | 36,654 |
| 2007 | 36,187 |
| 2008 | 34,742 |
| 2009 | 35,105 |
| 2010 | 34,875 |
| 2011 | 34,923 |
| 2012 | 34,543 |
| 2013 | 34,180 |
| 2014 | 34,655 |
| 2015 | 34,501 |
| 2016 | 34,847 |
| 2017 | 35,498 |
| 2018 | 34,800 |
| 2019 | 38,054 |
| 2020 | 29,897 |
| 2021 | 33,245 |
| 2022 | 36,994 |
| 2023 | 38,195 |
| 2024 | 38,258 |
| 2025 | 38,895 |
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, 4 of the 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A4540 collisions
Police recorded 516 collisions with the A4540 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 73 of them fatal or serious, including 4 fatal. That is 91.8 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 12.4 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
About the same in 2025 as in 2021.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | 14 |
| 2022 | 91 | 15 |
| 2023 | 87 | 13 |
| 2024 | 81 | 18 |
| 2025 | 92 | 13 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A435 to A41 Birmingham · 51 collisions | 293.9 |
| A41 to A45 Birmingham · 42 collisions | 107.7 |
| A34 to A4540 link to Icknield St Birmingham · 29 collisions | 94.4 |
| A41 to A4540 Belgrave Middleway Birmingham · 32 collisions | 78.1 |
| A45 to A47 Birmingham · 79 collisions | 73.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 147 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A4540 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 57.2% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A4540
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Birmingham
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 | 516 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.