A-road
A540 traffic and collisions
The A540 is an A-road of 19.5 miles, from West Cheshire to Wirral. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 94m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 13,158 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 18,151 B5135 to A551
- HGV share 2.9% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −1.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 110 24.1 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A540?
On an average day in 2025, 13,158 vehicles passed each point on the A540, counting both directions. The busiest section is B5135 to A551 (Wirral), with 18,151 a day; the quietest listed is Oldfield Drive, Heswall to B5140 Caldy Rd, West Kirby, with 9,299.
Busiest sections, 2025
B5135 to A551 carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| B5135 to A551 Wirral · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 18,151 |
| A550 to B5133 West Cheshire · 3.2 mi · HGVs 5.0% | 16,731 |
| B5133 to B5135 West Cheshire · 2.5 mi · HGVs 4.3% | 15,518 |
| A5117(T) to A550 West Cheshire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 3.3% | 14,337 |
| A5480 to A5117 West Cheshire · 3.2 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 14,118 |
| B5139 to Station Rd Wirral · 1.9 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 11,315 |
| A5268 to A5480 West Cheshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 1.9% | 10,124 |
| Caldy Rd to B5139 Wirral · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.1% | 9,707 |
| A551 to Oldfield Drive Wirral · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 9,648 |
| Oldfield Drive, Heswall to B5140 Caldy Rd, West Kirby Wirral · 2.4 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 9,299 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
West Cheshire to Wirral · 19.5 miles
A540 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
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A5268 to A5480West Cheshire | 10,124 | 9 |
| 2 | A5480 to A5117West Cheshire | 14,118 | 15 |
| 3 | A5117(T) to A550West Cheshire | 14,337 | 12 |
| 4 | A550 to B5133West Cheshire | 16,731 | 22 |
| 5 | B5133 to B5135West Cheshire | 15,518 | 12 |
| 6 | B5135 to A551Wirral | 18,151 | 5 |
| 7 | A551 to Oldfield DriveWirral | 9,648 | 12 |
| 8 | Oldfield Drive, Heswall to B5140 Caldy Rd, West KirbyWirral | 9,299 | 7 |
| 9 | Caldy Rd to B5139Wirral | 9,707 | 6 |
| 10 | B5139 to Station RdWirral | 11,315 | 10 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A540 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.
A540 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 84.2% of the vehicle miles on the A540. HGVs account for 2.9%, rising to 5.0% on A550 to B5133.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.2% |
| 2001 | 2.4% |
| 2002 | 2.5% |
| 2003 | 2.2% |
| 2004 | 2.6% |
| 2005 | 2.6% |
| 2006 | 2.4% |
| 2007 | 2.7% |
| 2008 | 2.7% |
| 2009 | 2.5% |
| 2010 | 2.4% |
| 2011 | 2.4% |
| 2012 | 2.6% |
| 2013 | 2.6% |
| 2014 | 2.5% |
| 2015 | 2.6% |
| 2016 | 2.6% |
| 2017 | 2.9% |
| 2018 | 2.9% |
| 2019 | 2.9% |
| 2020 | 3.3% |
| 2021 | 3.0% |
| 2022 | 3.1% |
| 2023 | 3.0% |
| 2024 | 2.9% |
| 2025 | 2.9% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A540 traffic trend
Traffic on the A540 came to 93.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 1.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 5.5% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 98m |
| 2001 | 97m |
| 2002 | 101m |
| 2003 | 102m |
| 2004 | 98m |
| 2005 | 99m |
| 2006 | 97m |
| 2007 | 99m |
| 2008 | 96m |
| 2009 | 96m |
| 2010 | 94m |
| 2011 | 94m |
| 2012 | 92m |
| 2013 | 92m |
| 2014 | 94m |
| 2015 | 95m |
| 2016 | 97m |
| 2017 | 93m |
| 2018 | 93m |
| 2019 | 95m |
| 2020 | 72m |
| 2021 | 84m |
| 2022 | 91m |
| 2023 | 93m |
| 2024 | 94m |
| 2025 | 94m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 13,950 |
| 2001 | 13,728 |
| 2002 | 14,283 |
| 2003 | 14,425 |
| 2004 | 13,898 |
| 2005 | 14,106 |
| 2006 | 13,812 |
| 2007 | 14,026 |
| 2008 | 13,575 |
| 2009 | 13,661 |
| 2010 | 13,307 |
| 2011 | 13,329 |
| 2012 | 13,064 |
| 2013 | 12,999 |
| 2014 | 13,274 |
| 2015 | 13,542 |
| 2016 | 13,807 |
| 2017 | 13,236 |
| 2018 | 13,234 |
| 2019 | 13,325 |
| 2020 | 10,158 |
| 2021 | 11,862 |
| 2022 | 12,735 |
| 2023 | 12,996 |
| 2024 | 13,259 |
| 2025 | 13,158 |
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.
A540 collisions
Police recorded 110 collisions with the A540 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 36 of them fatal or serious. That is 24.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.1 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 53.6% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | 6 |
| 2022 | 14 | 6 |
| 2023 | 12 | 11 |
| 2024 | 17 | 9 |
| 2025 | 10 | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A551 to Oldfield Drive Wirral · 12 collisions | 36.0 |
| B5139 to Station Rd Wirral · 10 collisions | 27.7 |
| A5117(T) to A550 West Cheshire · 12 collisions | 25.1 |
| A550 to B5133 West Cheshire · 22 collisions | 23.2 |
| A5480 to A5117 West Cheshire · 15 collisions | 18.9 |
| B5133 to B5135 West Cheshire · 12 collisions | 17.6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 10 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A540 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 A540
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- West Cheshire
- Wirral
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 | 110 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.