Trunk A-road

A51 traffic and collisions

The A51 is a trunk A-road of 75.3 miles, from Warwickshire to West Cheshire. This page covers its traffic at 40 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated: 15 September 2026
Data source: Department for Transport
Records analysed: 40 count points in 2025
Methodology: View methodology

Traffic in 2025 320m vehicle miles
Average daily traffic 11,642 vehicles a day, both directions
Busiest section 31,001 A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass Road
HGV share 4.6% of vehicle miles
Traffic since 2019 −1.4% same count points
Collisions, 2021 to 2025 267 17.7 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A51?

On an average day in 2025, 11,642 vehicles passed each point on the A51, counting both directions. The busiest section is A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass Road (West Cheshire), with 31,001 a day; the quietest listed is A519 to A53, with 3,615.

Busiest sections, 2025

A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass Road carries 2.7 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A51 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section	Vehicles a day
A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass Road West Cheshire · 3.1 mi · HGVs 3.5%	31,001
A453 to B5493 Staffordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.4%	29,862
A5115 to A5268 West Cheshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.9%	29,539
A5192 to A515 Staffordshire · 0.5 mi · HGVs 3.0%	24,989
C353 to A5192 Staffordshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 4.1%	21,500
A534 to A530 East Cheshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 7.0%	20,749
A513 to Bower Lane Staffordshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 3.4%	20,330
A530 to A51 East Cheshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 6.0%	18,650
Newcastle Road roundabout to A534 East Cheshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 7.6%	18,167
A515 to A513 Staffordshire · 4.3 mi · HGVs 6.1%	16,757

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

Route

Warwickshire to West Cheshire · 75.3 miles

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

A51 traffic and collisions by section

37 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.

Show all 37 sections Tap a column heading to sort

Sections of the A51 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1	B4098 roundabout to A453Warwickshire, Staffordshire	5.3	10,948	2.2%	+15.3%	28	31.5
2	A453 to Ventura Park Road roundaboutStaffordshire	0.3	23,118	2.8%	−1.8%	5	–
3	A453 to B5493Staffordshire	0.6	29,862	2.4%	−2.9%	3	–
4	B5493 to Coton LaneStaffordshire	1.4	8,328	0.9%	−5.8%	4	–
5	Coton Lane to B5404Staffordshire	0.7	9,037	1.8%	−6.9%	0	–
6	B5404 to Ryknild St, LichfieldStaffordshire	3.5	11,590	1.3%	+9.5%	7	–
7	A5206 to Ryknild StStaffordshire	0.7	7,549	1.0%	−5.8%	fewer than 3	–
8	C353 to A5192Staffordshire	1.4	21,500	4.1%	+36.1%	5	–
9	A5192 to A515Staffordshire	0.5	24,989	3.0%	+1.1%	4	–
10	A515 to A513Staffordshire	4.3	16,757	6.1%	−9.3%	9	–
11	A513 to A51Staffordshire	0.4	15,029	4.9%	+5.1%	fewer than 3	–
12	A460 to A513Staffordshire	3.0	12,150	4.8%	−6.1%	9	–
13	A513 to Bower LaneStaffordshire	0.9	20,330	3.4%	−12.4%	fewer than 3	–
14	A513 to A518Staffordshire	5.3	10,776	4.9%	+6.8%	14	15.0
15	At A518Staffordshire	0.1	13,702	7.4%	−6.0%	0	–
16	A518 to B5027Staffordshire	4.8	9,973	6.0%	−6.0%	15	17.9
17	B5027 to A34(T)Staffordshire	0.7	14,482	5.2%	+6.6%	0	–
18	A34 to A519Staffordshire	2.9	5,077	5.8%	−10.5%	3	–
19	A519 to A53Staffordshire	5.2	3,615	5.2%	+4.3%	7	–
20	At A53Staffordshire	0.2	12,980	6.3%	+3.5%	0	–
21	A53 to B5026Staffordshire, Shropshire	2.9	3,788	4.0%	−4.9%	6	–
22	B5026 to A525Shropshire	0.7	6,125	4.4%	−6.4%	3	–
23	A525 to A5301Shropshire, East Cheshire	8.7	4,776	3.0%	+10.5%	20	27.5
24	A5301 to A500East Cheshire	0.3	15,781	4.3%	+5.0%	fewer than 3	–
25	A500 to A51East Cheshire	0.4	22,099	3.0%	+13.5%	fewer than 3	–
26	Newcastle Road roundabout to A534East Cheshire	0.6	18,167	7.6%	−10.1%	5	–
27	A534 to A530East Cheshire	0.9	20,749	7.0%	−2.9%	10	30.9
28	A530 to A51East Cheshire	0.6	18,650	6.0%	−0.4%	4	–
29	A500 to A534East Cheshire	1.5	14,966	8.1%	+9.0%	10	26.0
30	A534 to A49East Cheshire	5.8	11,662	8.8%	−17.2%	13	10.9
31	A49 to LA boundary at Tilstone HouseWest Cheshire	1.0	11,662	8.8%	−17.2%	5	–
32	A54 to A49West Cheshire	4.8	11,940	5.7%	−8.6%	12	11.9
33	A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass RoadWest Cheshire	3.1	31,001	3.5%	–	25	18.1
34	A55 to A41West Cheshire	0.2	24,586	2.7%	−2.1%	4	–
35	A41 to Marbury RdWest Cheshire	0.2	11,194	0.9%	+8.2%	fewer than 3	–
36	Marbury Rd to A5115West Cheshire	0.7	11,083	0.9%	+8.2%	8	–
37	A5115 to A5268West Cheshire	0.7	29,539	0.9%	+3.1%	18	51.0

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A51 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.

A51 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 79.1% of the vehicle miles on the A51. HGVs account for 4.6%, rising to 8.8% on A534 to A49.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Share of vehicle miles on the A51 by vehicle type
Category	Share
Cars and taxis	79.1%
Vans (LGVs)	15.3%
HGVs	4.6%
Motorcycles	0.6%
Buses and coaches	0.3%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A51, by year
Year	HGV share
2000	6.2%
2001	6.1%
2002	6.3%
2003	5.8%
2004	5.9%
2005	6.1%
2006	6.0%
2007	6.3%
2008	6.3%
2009	5.6%
2010	5.2%
2011	5.3%
2012	5.0%
2013	4.8%
2014	4.8%
2015	5.1%
2016	5.0%
2017	5.7%
2018	5.5%
2019	5.6%
2020	6.7%
2021	6.1%
2022	5.5%
2023	5.1%
2024	4.7%
2025	4.6%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

A51 traffic trend

Traffic on the A51 came to 320 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 1.4% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.0% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 2.8% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A51 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year	Vehicle miles
2000	297m
2001	300m
2002	308m
2003	307m
2004	307m
2005	307m
2006	308m
2007	285m
2008	291m
2009	292m
2010	287m
2011	296m
2012	295m
2013	281m
2014	289m
2015	293m
2016	297m
2017	300m
2018	307m
2019	323m
2020	245m
2021	272m
2022	300m
2023	303m
2024	314m
2025	320m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A51, weighted by link length, by year
Year	Vehicles a day
2000	10,922
2001	11,040
2002	11,361
2003	11,328
2004	11,280
2005	11,290
2006	11,323
2007	10,900
2008	10,699
2009	10,733
2010	10,572
2011	10,908
2012	10,829
2013	10,447
2014	10,726
2015	11,058
2016	11,224
2017	11,330
2018	11,467
2019	11,676
2020	8,872
2021	9,836
2022	10,825
2023	11,028
2024	11,415
2025	11,642

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

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, 5 of the 40 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A51 collisions

Police recorded 267 collisions with the A51 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 86 of them fatal or serious, including 9 fatal. That is 17.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.7 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 44.9% from 2021 to 2025.

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

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 A51, 2021 to 2025
Section	Per 100m vehicle miles
A5115 to A5268 West Cheshire · 18 collisions	51.0
B4098 roundabout to A453 Warwickshire, Staffordshire · 28 collisions	31.5
A534 to A530 East Cheshire · 10 collisions	30.9
A525 to A5301 Shropshire, East Cheshire · 20 collisions	27.5
A500 to A534 East Cheshire · 10 collisions	26.0
A55/A51 Junction to A54 By-Pass Road West Cheshire · 25 collisions	18.1
A518 to B5027 Staffordshire · 15 collisions	17.9
A513 to A518 Staffordshire · 14 collisions	15.0

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated 15 Sept 2026

A further 46 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A51 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 A51

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

Warwickshire
Staffordshire
Shropshire
East Cheshire
West Cheshire

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	40 count points in 2025	15 September 2026
Reported collisions	Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring	2021 to 2025	267 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”.

How we calculate these figures All data sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

How busy is the A51?

Route

A51 traffic and collisions by section

A51 traffic by vehicle type

A51 traffic trend

A51 collisions

Council areas on the A51

Roads that meet the A51

Data sources and methodology

Related statistics