A-road

A5121 traffic and collisions

The A5121 is an A-road of 5.0 miles, in Staffordshire. This page covers its traffic at 5 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
5 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 32m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 17,692 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 25,243 James Brindley Way to A38
  • HGV share 5.4% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −1.9% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 73 47.8 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A5121?

On an average day in 2025, 17,692 vehicles passed each point on the A5121, counting both directions. The busiest section is James Brindley Way to A38 (Staffordshire), with 25,243 a day; the quietest listed is Second Avenue roundabout to A5189, with 14,357.

Busiest sections, 2025

James Brindley Way to A38 carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A5121 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
James Brindley Way to A38 Staffordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 5.9% 25,243
A38 to Second Avenue roundabout Staffordshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 7.8% 24,091
A511 to James Brindley Way Staffordshire · 1.3 mi · HGVs 3.2% 15,038
A5189 to A511 Staffordshire · 1.1 mi · HGVs 3.6% 14,705
Second Avenue roundabout to A5189 Staffordshire · 1.1 mi · HGVs 6.7% 14,357

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Staffordshire · 5.0 miles

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

A5121 traffic and collisions by section

5 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 A5121 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A38 to Second Avenue roundaboutStaffordshire0.824,0917.8%3
2Second Avenue roundabout to A5189Staffordshire1.114,3576.7%−8.5%1863.4
3A5189 to A511Staffordshire1.114,7053.6%+4.7%2594.5
4A511 to James Brindley WayStaffordshire1.315,0383.2%−5.0%1852.1
5James Brindley Way to A38Staffordshire0.725,2435.9%+2.3%8

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A5121 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.

A5121 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 80.3% of the vehicle miles on the A5121. HGVs account for 5.4%, rising to 7.8% on A38 to Second Avenue roundabout.

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 A5121, by year
Year HGV share
2000 7.5%
2001 7.1%
2002 6.5%
2003 6.5%
2004 6.9%
2005 6.9%
2006 6.3%
2007 6.1%
2008 6.6%
2009 6.1%
2010 5.9%
2011 6.0%
2012 6.1%
2013 6.2%
2014 6.2%
2015 5.9%
2016 5.9%
2017 5.4%
2018 5.5%
2019 5.4%
2020 6.1%
2021 6.0%
2022 6.1%
2023 6.1%
2024 5.9%
2025 5.4%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A5121 traffic trend

Traffic on the A5121 came to 32.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 1.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 0.7% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 7.9% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A5121 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 29m
2001 29m
2002 29m
2003 29m
2004 30m
2005 30m
2006 30m
2007 30m
2008 30m
2009 30m
2010 29m
2011 30m
2012 29m
2013 29m
2014 30m
2015 31m
2016 32m
2017 32m
2018 31m
2019 31m
2020 24m
2021 28m
2022 30m
2023 31m
2024 32m
2025 32m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A5121, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 16,018
2001 16,259
2002 16,383
2003 16,403
2004 16,672
2005 16,511
2006 16,824
2007 16,775
2008 16,729
2009 16,578
2010 16,356
2011 16,488
2012 16,439
2013 16,459
2014 16,820
2015 17,521
2016 17,950
2017 17,751
2018 17,441
2019 17,540
2020 13,629
2021 15,048
2022 16,633
2023 17,068
2024 17,296
2025 17,692

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 (84.0% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 5 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A5121 collisions

Police recorded 73 collisions with the A5121 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 22 of them fatal or serious. That is 47.8 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.9 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 228.6% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A5121 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 34
2022 33
2023 85
2024 204
2025 176

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 A5121, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A5189 to A511 Staffordshire · 25 collisions 94.5
Second Avenue roundabout to A5189 Staffordshire · 18 collisions 63.4
A511 to James Brindley Way Staffordshire · 18 collisions 52.1

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

A further 12 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A5121 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 98.6% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A5121

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

  • Staffordshire

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 5 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 73 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.