A-road
A521 traffic and collisions
The A521 is an A-road of 8.5 miles, in Staffordshire. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 22m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 6,935 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 11,579 A50(T) to A521 Cheadle Rd
- HGV share 2.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +1.7% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 31 30.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A521?
On an average day in 2025, 6,935 vehicles passed each point on the A521, counting both directions. The busiest section is A50(T) to A521 Cheadle Rd (Staffordshire), with 11,579 a day; the quietest listed is Hammersley Hayes Rd, Cheadle to A52, with 3,377.
Busiest sections, 2025
A50(T) to A521 Cheadle Rd carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A50(T) to A521 Cheadle Rd Staffordshire · 1.2 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 11,579 |
| Portland Drive, Forsbrook to A521 Uttoxeter Rd Staffordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 9,784 |
| Draycott Cross Rd to A521 Watt Place Staffordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 9,472 |
| Draycott Cross Rd, Cheadle to Portland Drive, Forsbrook Staffordshire · 2.1 mi · HGVs 3.7% | 8,196 |
| A522 to Hammersley Hayes Rd Staffordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 3,749 |
| Hammersley Hayes Rd, Cheadle to A52 Staffordshire · 2.1 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 3,377 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Staffordshire · 8.5 miles
A521 traffic and collisions by section
7 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (1.0 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hammersley Hayes Rd, Cheadle to A52Staffordshire | 3,377 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | A522 to Hammersley Hayes RdStaffordshire | 3,749 | fewer than 3 |
| 3 | Watt Place to A522 Tape StStaffordshire | 4,173 | 3 |
| 4 | Draycott Cross Rd to A521 Watt PlaceStaffordshire | 9,472 | 3 |
| 5 | Draycott Cross Rd, Cheadle to Portland Drive, ForsbrookStaffordshire | 8,196 | 8 |
| 6 | Portland Drive, Forsbrook to A521 Uttoxeter RdStaffordshire | 9,784 | 3 |
| 7 | A50(T) to A521 Cheadle RdStaffordshire | 11,579 | 6 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A521 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.
A521 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 82.1% of the vehicle miles on the A521. HGVs account for 2.5%, rising to 3.7% on Draycott Cross Rd, Cheadle to Portland Drive, Forsbrook.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.3% |
| 2001 | 4.1% |
| 2002 | 3.8% |
| 2003 | 3.7% |
| 2004 | 4.1% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 3.7% |
| 2007 | 3.9% |
| 2008 | 3.7% |
| 2009 | 3.3% |
| 2010 | 3.4% |
| 2011 | 2.8% |
| 2012 | 2.9% |
| 2013 | 2.4% |
| 2014 | 2.4% |
| 2015 | 2.3% |
| 2016 | 2.3% |
| 2017 | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 2.1% |
| 2020 | 2.5% |
| 2021 | 2.9% |
| 2022 | 2.7% |
| 2023 | 2.6% |
| 2024 | 2.5% |
| 2025 | 2.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A521 traffic trend
Traffic on the A521 came to 21.5 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 1.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 0.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 14.7% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 20m |
| 2001 | 20m |
| 2002 | 21m |
| 2003 | 20m |
| 2004 | 20m |
| 2005 | 19m |
| 2006 | 21m |
| 2007 | 21m |
| 2008 | 20m |
| 2009 | 21m |
| 2010 | 21m |
| 2011 | 21m |
| 2012 | 21m |
| 2013 | 22m |
| 2014 | 22m |
| 2015 | 22m |
| 2016 | 23m |
| 2017 | 23m |
| 2018 | 23m |
| 2019 | 21m |
| 2020 | 16m |
| 2021 | 19m |
| 2022 | 20m |
| 2023 | 21m |
| 2024 | 21m |
| 2025 | 22m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 6,251 |
| 2001 | 6,257 |
| 2002 | 6,492 |
| 2003 | 6,430 |
| 2004 | 6,270 |
| 2005 | 6,119 |
| 2006 | 6,521 |
| 2007 | 6,484 |
| 2008 | 6,434 |
| 2009 | 6,493 |
| 2010 | 6,500 |
| 2011 | 6,746 |
| 2012 | 6,658 |
| 2013 | 6,798 |
| 2014 | 6,986 |
| 2015 | 7,028 |
| 2016 | 7,193 |
| 2017 | 7,201 |
| 2018 | 7,101 |
| 2019 | 6,821 |
| 2020 | 5,274 |
| 2021 | 6,075 |
| 2022 | 6,522 |
| 2023 | 6,648 |
| 2024 | 6,878 |
| 2025 | 6,935 |
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, 1 of the 10 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A521 collisions
Police recorded 31 collisions with the A521 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 9 of them fatal or serious. That is 30.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to 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 166.7% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 5 |
| 2024 | 12 |
| 2025 | 8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 11 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A521 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 A521
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Staffordshire
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 | 10 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 31 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.