A-road

A5201 traffic and collisions

The A5201 is an A-road of 1.6 miles, from Camden to Hackney. This page covers its traffic at 7 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
7 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 8.7m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 14,826 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 9,955 A1 to A501
  • HGV share 3.2% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −17.3% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 226 493.7 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A5201?

On an average day in 2025, 14,826 vehicles passed each point on the A5201, counting both directions.

Route

Camden to Hackney · 1.6 miles

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

A5201 traffic and collisions by section

6 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 A5201 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Gray's Inn Rd to A201Camden, Islington0.310,6102.4%−9.4%26
2A201 to A1Islington0.416,5083.4%+7.4%45
3A1 to A501Islington0.59,9552.4%−52.8%61428.7
4A501 to A1202Hackney0.144,3593.3%+12.9%37
5At A1202Hackney0.213,2524.2%+7.1%28
6A1202 to A10/A1208Hackney0.118,7093.8%−9.7%29

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A5201 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.

A5201 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 56.3% of the vehicle miles on the A5201. HGVs account for 3.2%.

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 A5201, by year
Year HGV share
2000 3.3%
2001 3.5%
2002 3.4%
2003 3.0%
2004 3.1%
2005 3.4%
2006 3.4%
2007 3.2%
2008 3.5%
2009 3.7%
2010 4.3%
2011 3.8%
2012 4.5%
2013 4.8%
2014 4.2%
2015 4.5%
2016 4.7%
2017 4.0%
2018 3.1%
2019 3.0%
2020 3.3%
2021 3.1%
2022 3.2%
2023 3.1%
2024 3.1%
2025 3.2%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A5201 traffic trend

Traffic on the A5201 came to 8.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 17.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 22.1% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 41.9% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A5201 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 15m
2001 16m
2002 15m
2003 15m
2004 16m
2005 16m
2006 16m
2007 16m
2008 15m
2009 14m
2010 13m
2011 12m
2012 12m
2013 11m
2014 11m
2015 11m
2016 11m
2017 12m
2018 12m
2019 11m
2020 8.3m
2021 9.2m
2022 9.6m
2023 9.5m
2024 8.8m
2025 8.7m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A5201, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 25,533
2001 27,173
2002 25,128
2003 25,547
2004 27,188
2005 26,861
2006 27,038
2007 26,645
2008 25,240
2009 23,741
2010 22,491
2011 20,512
2012 19,798
2013 18,798
2014 18,967
2015 19,032
2016 19,106
2017 20,324
2018 19,784
2019 17,928
2020 14,280
2021 15,754
2022 16,399
2023 16,289
2024 15,113
2025 14,826

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, 3 of the 7 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A5201 collisions

Police recorded 226 collisions with the A5201 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 34 of them fatal or serious. That is 493.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 28.3 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 5.7% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A5201 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 476
2022 369
2023 337
2024 326
2025 446

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 A5201, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A1 to A501 Islington · 61 collisions 428.7

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

A further 52 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A5201 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 A5201

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

  • Camden
  • Islington
  • Hackney

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 7 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 226 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.