A-road
A538 traffic and collisions
The A538 is an A-road of 16.9 miles, from East Cheshire to Trafford. This page covers its traffic at 8 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 83m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 13,487 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 19,841 A34 Birrell Way to M56
- HGV share 1.3% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −2.2% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 99 24.9 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A538?
On an average day in 2025, 13,487 vehicles passed each point on the A538, counting both directions. The busiest section is A34 Birrell Way to M56 (East Cheshire, Manchester), with 19,841 a day; the quietest listed is A537 to Withinlee Rd, Greendale, with 7,531.
Busiest sections, 2025
A34 Birrell Way to M56 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A34 Birrell Way to M56 East Cheshire, Manchester · 5.0 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 19,841 |
| A5144 to M56 Trafford · 1.7 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 18,669 |
| Junction with B5162 Park Road and A538 Hale Road to Junction at Stockport Road joining A560 Trafford · 2.2 mi · HGVs 0.3% | 13,518 |
| A5102 to A34 East Cheshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.9% | 9,913 |
| Withinlee Rd, Greendale to A5102 East Cheshire · 3.5 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 7,593 |
| A537 to Withinlee Rd, Greendale East Cheshire · 3.7 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 7,531 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
East Cheshire to Trafford · 16.9 miles
A538 traffic and collisions by section
7 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 | A537 to Withinlee Rd, GreendaleEast Cheshire | 7,531 | 19 |
| 2 | Withinlee Rd, Greendale to A5102East Cheshire | 7,593 | 9 |
| 3 | A5102 to A34East Cheshire | 9,913 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | A34 Birrell Way to M56East Cheshire, Manchester | 19,841 | 45 |
| 5 | M56 mid-junction to M56 spur roundaboutManchester | 34,338 | fewer than 3 |
| 6 | A5144 to M56Trafford | 18,669 | 7 |
| 7 | Junction with B5162 Park Road and A538 Hale Road to Junction at Stockport Road joining A560Trafford | 13,518 | 15 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A538 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.
A538 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 85.9% of the vehicle miles on the A538. HGVs account for 1.3%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.9% |
| 2001 | 2.1% |
| 2002 | 2.0% |
| 2003 | 1.8% |
| 2004 | 2.1% |
| 2005 | 2.1% |
| 2006 | 2.0% |
| 2007 | 1.9% |
| 2008 | 1.7% |
| 2009 | 1.6% |
| 2010 | 1.8% |
| 2011 | 1.9% |
| 2012 | 1.9% |
| 2013 | 1.8% |
| 2014 | 1.8% |
| 2015 | 1.8% |
| 2016 | 1.9% |
| 2017 | 1.8% |
| 2018 | 1.8% |
| 2019 | 1.8% |
| 2020 | 2.0% |
| 2021 | 1.9% |
| 2022 | 1.8% |
| 2023 | 1.5% |
| 2024 | 1.4% |
| 2025 | 1.3% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A538 traffic trend
Traffic on the A538 came to 83.2 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 2.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 13.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 17.4% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 95m |
| 2001 | 95m |
| 2002 | 93m |
| 2003 | 97m |
| 2004 | 96m |
| 2005 | 95m |
| 2006 | 97m |
| 2007 | 97m |
| 2008 | 94m |
| 2009 | 93m |
| 2010 | 93m |
| 2011 | 90m |
| 2012 | 89m |
| 2013 | 90m |
| 2014 | 92m |
| 2015 | 93m |
| 2016 | 91m |
| 2017 | 95m |
| 2018 | 95m |
| 2019 | 100m |
| 2020 | 68m |
| 2021 | 73m |
| 2022 | 82m |
| 2023 | 80m |
| 2024 | 81m |
| 2025 | 83m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 15,631 |
| 2001 | 15,567 |
| 2002 | 15,273 |
| 2003 | 15,837 |
| 2004 | 15,818 |
| 2005 | 15,617 |
| 2006 | 15,921 |
| 2007 | 15,972 |
| 2008 | 15,406 |
| 2009 | 15,315 |
| 2010 | 15,204 |
| 2011 | 15,280 |
| 2012 | 15,160 |
| 2013 | 15,243 |
| 2014 | 15,628 |
| 2015 | 15,868 |
| 2016 | 15,472 |
| 2017 | 15,501 |
| 2018 | 15,342 |
| 2019 | 15,638 |
| 2020 | 10,590 |
| 2021 | 11,435 |
| 2022 | 12,752 |
| 2023 | 12,506 |
| 2024 | 13,065 |
| 2025 | 13,487 |
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 (78.7% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 8 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A538 collisions
Police recorded 99 collisions with the A538 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, fewer than 3 of them fatal or serious. That is 24.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.2 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 50.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 |
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2023 | 25 |
| 2024 | 23 |
| 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.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| A537 to Withinlee Rd, Greendale East Cheshire · 19 collisions | 38.6 |
| Junction with B5162 Park Road and A538 Hale Road to Junction at Stockport Road joining A560 Trafford · 15 collisions | 33.2 |
| A34 Birrell Way to M56 East Cheshire, Manchester · 45 collisions | 28.5 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 28 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A538 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 A538
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- East Cheshire
- Manchester
- Trafford
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 | 8 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 99 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.