Trunk A-road
A5183 traffic and collisions
The A5183 is a trunk A-road of 21.9 miles, from Hertfordshire to Central Bedfordshire. This page covers its traffic at 11 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 115m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 14,441 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 21,144 B487 to A5
- HGV share 2.2% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −13.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 228 40.6 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A5183?
On an average day in 2025, 14,441 vehicles passed each point on the A5183, counting both directions. The busiest section is B487 to A5 (Hertfordshire), with 21,144 a day; the quietest listed is A1081 to A4147, with 6,369.
Busiest sections, 2025
B487 to A5 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| B487 to A5 Hertfordshire · 1.8 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 21,144 |
| At B487 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 20,559 |
| A505 to A4012 Central Bedfordshire · 3.2 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 15,974 |
| A4012 to A505 Hertfordshire · 3.4 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 15,759 |
| A41 to A411 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.1% | 12,896 |
| A4147 to B487 Hertfordshire · 3.2 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 12,710 |
| Park Street Roundabout, Hertfordshire to Junction where A411 and A5183 High Street Meet (in Elstree, Hertfordshire) Hertfordshire · 6.6 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 12,627 |
| A414 to A1081 Hertfordshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 12,601 |
| A1081 to A4147 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.0% | 6,369 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Hertfordshire to Central Bedfordshire · 21.9 miles
A5183 traffic and collisions by section
11 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
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A41 to A411Hertfordshire | 12,896 | 7 |
| 2 | Park Street Roundabout, Hertfordshire to Junction where A411 and A5183 High Street Meet (in Elstree, Hertfordshire)Hertfordshire | 12,627 | 57 |
| 3 | A414 to A1081Hertfordshire | 12,601 | 34 |
| 4 | A1081 to A4147Hertfordshire | 6,369 | 9 |
| 5 | At A4147Hertfordshire | 16,144 | 3 |
| 6 | A4147 to B487Hertfordshire | 12,710 | 17 |
| 7 | At B487Hertfordshire | 20,559 | 7 |
| 8 | B487 to A5Hertfordshire | 21,144 | 13 |
| 9 | M1 (midpoint) to A5183Hertfordshire | 15,759 | 7 |
| 10 | A4012 to A505Hertfordshire | 15,759 | 31 |
| 11 | A505 to A4012Central Bedfordshire | 15,974 | 43 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A5183 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.
A5183 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.6% of the vehicle miles on the A5183. HGVs account for 2.2%, rising to 3.4% on Park Street Roundabout, Hertfordshire to Junction where A411 and A5183 High Street Meet (in Elstree, Hertfordshire).
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.4% |
| 2001 | 2.2% |
| 2002 | 2.6% |
| 2003 | 2.7% |
| 2004 | 2.7% |
| 2005 | 2.6% |
| 2006 | 2.2% |
| 2007 | 2.7% |
| 2008 | 2.3% |
| 2009 | 2.1% |
| 2010 | 2.3% |
| 2011 | 2.2% |
| 2012 | 2.3% |
| 2013 | 2.1% |
| 2014 | 2.0% |
| 2015 | 1.9% |
| 2016 | 1.8% |
| 2017 | 2.9% |
| 2018 | 3.5% |
| 2019 | 1.8% |
| 2020 | 2.1% |
| 2021 | 2.5% |
| 2022 | 2.3% |
| 2023 | 2.2% |
| 2024 | 2.2% |
| 2025 | 2.2% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A5183 traffic trend
Traffic on the A5183 came to 115 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 13.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.7% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 6.5% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 80m |
| 2001 | 89m |
| 2002 | 87m |
| 2003 | 87m |
| 2004 | 88m |
| 2005 | 88m |
| 2006 | 90m |
| 2007 | 81m |
| 2008 | 82m |
| 2009 | 80m |
| 2010 | 81m |
| 2011 | 81m |
| 2012 | 80m |
| 2013 | 80m |
| 2014 | 83m |
| 2015 | 83m |
| 2016 | 84m |
| 2017 | 102m |
| 2018 | 134m |
| 2019 | 133m |
| 2020 | 100m |
| 2021 | 106m |
| 2022 | 113m |
| 2023 | 113m |
| 2024 | 114m |
| 2025 | 115m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 14,671 |
| 2001 | 16,306 |
| 2002 | 15,980 |
| 2003 | 15,905 |
| 2004 | 16,148 |
| 2005 | 16,120 |
| 2006 | 16,489 |
| 2007 | 14,940 |
| 2008 | 15,130 |
| 2009 | 14,772 |
| 2010 | 14,914 |
| 2011 | 14,834 |
| 2012 | 14,736 |
| 2013 | 14,778 |
| 2014 | 15,195 |
| 2015 | 15,202 |
| 2016 | 15,421 |
| 2017 | 15,497 |
| 2018 | 16,871 |
| 2019 | 16,614 |
| 2020 | 12,522 |
| 2021 | 13,265 |
| 2022 | 14,159 |
| 2023 | 14,070 |
| 2024 | 14,278 |
| 2025 | 14,441 |
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, 0 of the 11 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A5183 collisions
Police recorded 228 collisions with the A5183 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 56 of them fatal or serious, including 7 fatal. That is 40.6 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.1 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 17.9% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | 3 |
| 2022 | 36 | 12 |
| 2023 | 46 | 15 |
| 2024 | 23 | 11 |
| 2025 | 31 | 15 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A414 to A1081 Hertfordshire · 34 collisions | 109.1 |
| A505 to A4012 Central Bedfordshire · 43 collisions | 47.0 |
| Park Street Roundabout, Hertfordshire to Junction where A411 and A5183 High Street Meet (in Elstree, Hertfordshire) Hertfordshire · 57 collisions | 39.0 |
| A4012 to A505 Hertfordshire · 31 collisions | 31.8 |
| A4147 to B487 Hertfordshire · 17 collisions | 23.7 |
| B487 to A5 Hertfordshire · 13 collisions | 19.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 39 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A5183 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 100.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A5183
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Hertfordshire
- Central Bedfordshire
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 | 11 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 228 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.