A-road

A522 traffic and collisions

The A522 is an A-road of 13.7 miles, in Staffordshire. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
10 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 31m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 6,259 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 7,748 Dandillion Ave, Cheadle to A521 Chapel St
  • HGV share 5.3% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −2.8% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 30 20.2 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A522?

On an average day in 2025, 6,259 vehicles passed each point on the A522, counting both directions. The busiest section is Dandillion Ave, Cheadle to A521 Chapel St (Staffordshire), with 7,748 a day; the quietest listed is A52 to A520, with 3,155.

Busiest sections, 2025

Dandillion Ave, Cheadle to A521 Chapel St carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A522 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
Dandillion Ave, Cheadle to A521 Chapel St Staffordshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 3.1% 7,748
A522 High St to Dandillion Ave, Cheadle Staffordshire · 1.5 mi · HGVs 5.2% 7,243
Park Drive, Cheadle to A52 Staffordshire · 2.0 mi · HGVs 5.5% 6,985
Roundabout NE of Parks Farm (joining A522 slip road) Staffordshire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 2.4% 6,183
A50 junction to Upper Tean Staffordshire · 5.1 mi · HGVs 7.0% 5,919
A52 to A520 Staffordshire · 1.6 mi · HGVs 5.2% 3,155

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Staffordshire · 13.7 miles

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

A522 traffic and collisions by section

10 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 A522 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Roundabout NE of Parks Farm (joining A522 slip road)Staffordshire1.96,1832.4%3
2Roundabout NE of Parks Farm (joining A522 slip road) to Roundabout directly south of View Farm, Staffordshire (joining A522 slip road and A522 Dual Carriageway)Staffordshire0.25,9135.6%+2,156.9%0
3A50 junction to Upper TeanStaffordshire5.15,9197.0%1019.5
4A522 High St to Dandillion Ave, CheadleStaffordshire1.57,2435.2%−6.9%3
5Dandillion Ave, Cheadle to A521 Chapel StStaffordshire0.87,7483.1%−5.5%5
6A521 Chapel St to A521 High StStaffordshire0.213,1022.7%+3.5%3
7At A522Staffordshire0.211,8693.9%−5.0%0
8A521 to Park Drive, CheadleStaffordshire0.27,7545.5%−7.1%0
9Park Drive, Cheadle to A52Staffordshire2.06,9855.5%−7.1%5
10A52 to A520Staffordshire1.63,1555.2%−0.1%fewer than 3

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A522 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.

A522 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 79.8% of the vehicle miles on the A522. HGVs account for 5.3%, rising to 7.0% on A50 junction to Upper Tean.

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 A522, by year
Year HGV share
2000 7.0%
2001 6.9%
2002 6.1%
2003 5.9%
2004 6.4%
2005 6.1%
2006 6.6%
2007 7.1%
2008 6.8%
2009 6.2%
2010 5.9%
2011 6.1%
2012 6.2%
2013 6.3%
2014 6.3%
2015 6.3%
2016 4.9%
2017 5.0%
2018 5.1%
2019 4.9%
2020 5.4%
2021 5.5%
2022 5.7%
2023 5.5%
2024 5.4%
2025 5.3%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A522 traffic trend

Traffic on the A522 came to 31.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 2.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 3.0% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 4.7% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A522 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 33m
2001 33m
2002 32m
2003 33m
2004 33m
2005 32m
2006 32m
2007 32m
2008 32m
2009 31m
2010 31m
2011 31m
2012 31m
2013 30m
2014 31m
2015 31m
2016 32m
2017 32m
2018 31m
2019 31m
2020 24m
2021 26m
2022 30m
2023 31m
2024 31m
2025 31m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A522, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 6,545
2001 6,576
2002 6,405
2003 6,490
2004 6,460
2005 6,284
2006 6,280
2007 6,268
2008 6,256
2009 6,216
2010 6,110
2011 6,165
2012 6,079
2013 6,015
2014 6,170
2015 6,228
2016 6,260
2017 6,273
2018 6,150
2019 5,939
2020 4,823
2021 5,226
2022 5,996
2023 6,109
2024 6,184
2025 6,259

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 (48.9% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 10 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A522 collisions

Police recorded 30 collisions with the A522 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 10 of them fatal or serious. That is 20.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.4 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 200.0% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A522 by year
Year Collisions
2021 4
2022 4
2023 5
2024 5
2025 12

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 A522, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A50 junction to Upper Tean Staffordshire · 10 collisions 19.5

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

A further 5 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A522 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 A522

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 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 30 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.