Trunk A-road
A501 traffic and collisions
The A501 is a trunk A-road of 5.2 miles, from City of London to Westminster. This page covers its traffic at 26 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 55m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 29,144 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 42,783 Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction)
- HGV share 3.3% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −26.2% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 734 267.1 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A501?
On an average day in 2025, 29,144 vehicles passed each point on the A501, counting both directions. The busiest section is Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction) (Westminster), with 42,783 a day; the quietest listed is A1211 to A5201, with 8,622.
Busiest sections, 2025
Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction) carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction) Westminster · 0.5 mi · HGVs 5.1% | 42,783 |
| A1200 to Wakley St Hackney, Islington · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.6% | 20,306 |
| A1211 to A5201 City of London, Islington · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 8,622 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
City of London to Westminster · 5.2 miles
A501 traffic and collisions by section
20 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 4 short link roads and spurs (0.6 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Show all 20 sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A1211 to A5201City of London, Islington | 8,622 | 47 |
| 2 | A1200 East Road to A5201 Old StreetIslington | 33,185 | 22 |
| 3 | Provost Street to East RoadIslington | 28,673 | 14 |
| 4 | A1200 to Wakley StHackney, Islington | 20,306 | 132 |
| 5 | Wakley St to A1Islington | 13,363 | 22 |
| 6 | A1 to Penton RiseIslington | 27,387 | 42 |
| 7 | Penton Rise to King's Cross RdIslington | 11,851 | 48 |
| 8 | Kings Cross Rd to Caledonian RdIslington | 17,594 | 19 |
| 9 | Caledonian Rd to York WayIslington | 17,448 | 18 |
| 10 | Gray's Inn Rd to A5202Camden | 38,863 | 27 |
| 11 | A5202 to A4200Camden | 38,863 | 81 |
| 12 | A4200 to A400Camden | 43,425 | 39 |
| 13 | Tottenham Court Road to Gower StreetCamden | 37,510 | 8 |
| 14 | A400 to A4201Camden | 55,240 | 34 |
| 15 | A4201 to A501Westminster | 46,882 | 19 |
| 16 | Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction)Westminster | 42,783 | 71 |
| 17 | At A41Westminster | 52,278 | 19 |
| 18 | A41 Gloucester Place to Old Marylebone RdWestminster | 54,412 | 49 |
| 19 | Old Marylebone Rd to A5Westminster | 56,477 | 8 |
| 20 | A4206 to A5/A501Westminster | 56,477 | 0 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A501 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.
A501 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 66.7% of the vehicle miles on the A501. HGVs account for 3.3%, rising to 5.1% on Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction).
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.3% |
| 2001 | 4.3% |
| 2002 | 4.3% |
| 2003 | 4.2% |
| 2004 | 4.0% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 3.5% |
| 2007 | 3.6% |
| 2008 | 3.9% |
| 2009 | 3.7% |
| 2010 | 3.7% |
| 2011 | 3.9% |
| 2012 | 4.5% |
| 2013 | 4.3% |
| 2014 | 4.4% |
| 2015 | 4.0% |
| 2016 | 3.8% |
| 2017 | 3.3% |
| 2018 | 3.2% |
| 2019 | 3.3% |
| 2020 | 4.0% |
| 2021 | 4.3% |
| 2022 | 4.3% |
| 2023 | 4.4% |
| 2024 | 3.8% |
| 2025 | 3.3% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A501 traffic trend
Traffic on the A501 came to 55.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 26.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 30.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 38.6% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 86m |
| 2001 | 83m |
| 2002 | 76m |
| 2003 | 81m |
| 2004 | 79m |
| 2005 | 79m |
| 2006 | 83m |
| 2007 | 84m |
| 2008 | 79m |
| 2009 | 83m |
| 2010 | 80m |
| 2011 | 75m |
| 2012 | 71m |
| 2013 | 74m |
| 2014 | 75m |
| 2015 | 76m |
| 2016 | 76m |
| 2017 | 80m |
| 2018 | 79m |
| 2019 | 74m |
| 2020 | 56m |
| 2021 | 54m |
| 2022 | 55m |
| 2023 | 54m |
| 2024 | 56m |
| 2025 | 55m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 47,795 |
| 2001 | 46,174 |
| 2002 | 42,604 |
| 2003 | 45,036 |
| 2004 | 44,185 |
| 2005 | 44,146 |
| 2006 | 46,350 |
| 2007 | 47,012 |
| 2008 | 44,365 |
| 2009 | 46,615 |
| 2010 | 44,463 |
| 2011 | 42,132 |
| 2012 | 39,859 |
| 2013 | 41,226 |
| 2014 | 41,866 |
| 2015 | 42,494 |
| 2016 | 42,434 |
| 2017 | 43,916 |
| 2018 | 42,245 |
| 2019 | 41,093 |
| 2020 | 31,128 |
| 2021 | 30,364 |
| 2022 | 30,960 |
| 2023 | 30,243 |
| 2024 | 29,353 |
| 2025 | 29,144 |
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, 9 of the 26 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A501 collisions
Police recorded 734 collisions with the A501 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 117 of them fatal or serious. That is 267.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 28.2 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 38.8% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 169 | 27 |
| 2022 | 120 | 21 |
| 2023 | 125 | 25 |
| 2024 | 105 | 22 |
| 2025 | 98 | 22 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A1200 to Wakley St Hackney, Islington · 132 collisions | 594.5 |
| A1211 to A5201 City of London, Islington · 47 collisions | 498.9 |
| Baker St to Park Crescent (mid-junction) Westminster · 71 collisions | 182.8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 125 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A501 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 98.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A501
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- City of London
- Islington
- Hackney
- Camden
- Westminster
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 | 26 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 734 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.