A-road
A457 traffic and collisions
The A457 is an A-road of 10.5 miles, from Birmingham to Dudley. This page covers its traffic at 17 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 72m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 18,861 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 35,148 A4030 to A4168
- HGV share 3.1% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +0.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 300 86.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A457?
On an average day in 2025, 18,861 vehicles passed each point on the A457, counting both directions. The busiest section is A4030 to A4168 (Sandwell), with 35,148 a day; the quietest listed is A461 to A4037, with 11,757.
Busiest sections, 2025
A4030 to A4168 carries 1.9 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A4030 to A4168 Sandwell · 0.5 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 35,148 |
| A4092 to A4030 Sandwell · 1.2 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 29,330 |
| A4031 to A4034 Sandwell · 1.1 mi · HGVs 4.3% | 27,440 |
| A4252 to A4031 Sandwell · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.6% | 23,600 |
| A4540 to A4040 Birmingham · 0.8 mi · HGVs 2.2% | 17,741 |
| A4034 to A4033 Sandwell · 1.1 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 15,642 |
| A457 Gate St to A4123 Dudley · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.0% | 13,867 |
| A4033 to A461 Sandwell · 0.7 mi · HGVs 4.4% | 12,836 |
| A461 to A4037 Sandwell · 1.6 mi · HGVs 3.5% | 11,757 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Birmingham to Dudley · 10.5 miles
A457 traffic and collisions by section
14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.1 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A4540 to A4040Birmingham | 17,741 | 44 |
| 2 | At A4040Birmingham | 17,584 | 17 |
| 3 | A4040 to A4092Birmingham, Sandwell | 10,967 | 43 |
| 4 | A4092 to A4030Sandwell | 29,330 | 35 |
| 5 | A4030 to A4168Sandwell | 35,148 | 15 |
| 6 | A4252 to A4031Sandwell | 23,600 | 18 |
| 7 | A4031 to A4034Sandwell | 27,440 | 41 |
| 8 | At A4034Sandwell | 30,627 | 11 |
| 9 | A4034 to A4033Sandwell | 15,642 | 21 |
| 10 | A4033 to A461Sandwell | 12,836 | 6 |
| 11 | A461 to A4037Sandwell | 11,757 | 16 |
| 12 | A4037 to A4123(T)Sandwell, Dudley | 11,740 | 12 |
| 13 | A457 Gate St to A4123Dudley | 13,867 | 18 |
| 14 | A459 High Holborn to A457 Gate StreetDudley | 9,152 | 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 A457 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.
A457 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 82.0% of the vehicle miles on the A457. HGVs account for 3.1%, rising to 4.4% on A4033 to A461.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.1% |
| 2001 | 3.9% |
| 2002 | 4.0% |
| 2003 | 4.3% |
| 2004 | 4.1% |
| 2005 | 3.6% |
| 2006 | 3.5% |
| 2007 | 3.4% |
| 2008 | 3.4% |
| 2009 | 3.1% |
| 2010 | 3.0% |
| 2011 | 3.3% |
| 2012 | 3.3% |
| 2013 | 3.3% |
| 2014 | 3.4% |
| 2015 | 3.3% |
| 2016 | 3.1% |
| 2017 | 3.1% |
| 2018 | 3.1% |
| 2019 | 3.1% |
| 2020 | 3.6% |
| 2021 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 3.6% |
| 2023 | 3.5% |
| 2024 | 3.3% |
| 2025 | 3.1% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A457 traffic trend
Traffic on the A457 came to 72.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is about the same as in 2019, before the pandemic, and about the same as in 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 0.5% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 76m |
| 2001 | 77m |
| 2002 | 78m |
| 2003 | 79m |
| 2004 | 79m |
| 2005 | 78m |
| 2006 | 77m |
| 2007 | 75m |
| 2008 | 69m |
| 2009 | 70m |
| 2010 | 70m |
| 2011 | 71m |
| 2012 | 71m |
| 2013 | 71m |
| 2014 | 73m |
| 2015 | 74m |
| 2016 | 74m |
| 2017 | 73m |
| 2018 | 73m |
| 2019 | 72m |
| 2020 | 58m |
| 2021 | 64m |
| 2022 | 70m |
| 2023 | 71m |
| 2024 | 71m |
| 2025 | 72m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 18,260 |
| 2001 | 18,423 |
| 2002 | 18,671 |
| 2003 | 18,939 |
| 2004 | 19,092 |
| 2005 | 18,762 |
| 2006 | 18,514 |
| 2007 | 18,016 |
| 2008 | 17,606 |
| 2009 | 18,016 |
| 2010 | 17,887 |
| 2011 | 18,077 |
| 2012 | 18,156 |
| 2013 | 18,275 |
| 2014 | 18,651 |
| 2015 | 18,869 |
| 2016 | 18,859 |
| 2017 | 18,749 |
| 2018 | 18,599 |
| 2019 | 18,807 |
| 2020 | 15,154 |
| 2021 | 16,606 |
| 2022 | 18,303 |
| 2023 | 18,573 |
| 2024 | 18,520 |
| 2025 | 18,861 |
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 17 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A457 collisions
Police recorded 300 collisions with the A457 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 49 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 86.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 5.7 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 18.5% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56 | 9 |
| 2022 | 47 | 8 |
| 2023 | 49 | 12 |
| 2024 | 56 | 10 |
| 2025 | 43 | 10 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A4540 to A4040 Birmingham · 44 collisions | 175.2 |
| A4031 to A4034 Sandwell · 41 collisions | 83.1 |
| A4034 to A4033 Sandwell · 21 collisions | 70.8 |
| A4252 to A4031 Sandwell · 18 collisions | 61.1 |
| A4092 to A4030 Sandwell · 35 collisions | 58.0 |
| A457 Gate St to A4123 Dudley · 18 collisions | 52.0 |
| A461 to A4037 Sandwell · 16 collisions | 48.1 |
| A4030 to A4168 Sandwell · 15 collisions | 47.8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 88 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A457 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 A457
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Birmingham
- Sandwell
- Dudley
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 | 17 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 300 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.