A-road
A551 traffic and collisions
The A551 is an A-road of 11.6 miles, in Wirral. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 65m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 15,389 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 26,824 M53 to A551
- HGV share 0.8% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +4.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 108 40.8 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A551?
On an average day in 2025, 15,389 vehicles passed each point on the A551, counting both directions. The busiest section is M53 to A551 (Wirral), with 26,824 a day; the quietest listed is B5145 to St Alban's Rd, with 6,920.
Busiest sections, 2025
M53 to A551 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| M53 to A551 Wirral · 1.1 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 26,824 |
| A553 to A554 Wirral · 2.6 mi · HGVs 0.7% | 20,279 |
| A552 to A5027 Wirral · 1.0 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 19,530 |
| M53/A5027 to A553 Wirral · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 17,310 |
| A554 to B5477 Wirral · 0.6 mi · HGVs 0.5% | 16,102 |
| Whitehouse Lane to Barnsdale Ave Wirral · 1.5 mi · HGVs 0.9% | 10,835 |
| Mill Lane to B5145 Wirral · 0.9 mi · HGVs 0.6% | 9,736 |
| A540 to Whitehouse Lane Wirral · 0.8 mi · HGVs 1.0% | 9,492 |
| B5138 to A552 Wirral · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.6% | 8,849 |
| B5145 to St Alban's Rd Wirral · 0.6 mi · HGVs 0.5% | 6,920 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Wirral · 11.6 miles
A551 traffic and collisions by section
13 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.3 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A540 to Whitehouse LaneWirral | 9,492 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | Whitehouse Lane to Barnsdale AveWirral | 10,835 | 11 |
| 3 | Barnsdale Ave to B5138 Thingwall Road EastWirral | 9,724 | 3 |
| 4 | B5138 to A552Wirral | 8,849 | 4 |
| 5 | A552 to A5027Wirral | 19,530 | 15 |
| 6 | M53 to A551Wirral | 26,824 | 9 |
| 7 | M53/A5027 to A553Wirral | 17,310 | 3 |
| 8 | A553 to A554Wirral | 20,279 | 19 |
| 9 | A554 to B5477Wirral | 16,102 | 7 |
| 10 | B5477 to B5145Wirral | 14,022 | 3 |
| 11 | B5145 to St Alban's RdWirral | 6,920 | 6 |
| 12 | St Alban's Rd to Mill LaneWirral | 11,794 | fewer than 3 |
| 13 | Mill Lane to B5145Wirral | 9,736 | 22 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A551 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.
A551 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 85.7% of the vehicle miles on the A551. HGVs account for 0.8%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.7% |
| 2001 | 1.7% |
| 2002 | 1.6% |
| 2003 | 1.6% |
| 2004 | 1.6% |
| 2005 | 1.6% |
| 2006 | 1.5% |
| 2007 | 1.5% |
| 2008 | 1.4% |
| 2009 | 1.3% |
| 2010 | 1.3% |
| 2011 | 1.3% |
| 2012 | 1.4% |
| 2013 | 1.4% |
| 2014 | 1.3% |
| 2015 | 1.2% |
| 2016 | 1.2% |
| 2017 | 1.1% |
| 2018 | 1.1% |
| 2019 | 1.1% |
| 2020 | 1.1% |
| 2021 | 1.1% |
| 2022 | 1.0% |
| 2023 | 1.0% |
| 2024 | 0.9% |
| 2025 | 0.8% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A551 traffic trend
Traffic on the A551 came to 65.2 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 4.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.4% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 1.6% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 57m |
| 2001 | 56m |
| 2002 | 58m |
| 2003 | 57m |
| 2004 | 59m |
| 2005 | 59m |
| 2006 | 58m |
| 2007 | 55m |
| 2008 | 55m |
| 2009 | 55m |
| 2010 | 55m |
| 2011 | 56m |
| 2012 | 55m |
| 2013 | 54m |
| 2014 | 56m |
| 2015 | 57m |
| 2016 | 58m |
| 2017 | 56m |
| 2018 | 55m |
| 2019 | 55m |
| 2020 | 43m |
| 2021 | 48m |
| 2022 | 48m |
| 2023 | 50m |
| 2024 | 55m |
| 2025 | 65m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 13,586 |
| 2001 | 13,410 |
| 2002 | 13,912 |
| 2003 | 13,774 |
| 2004 | 14,210 |
| 2005 | 14,156 |
| 2006 | 14,012 |
| 2007 | 13,311 |
| 2008 | 13,298 |
| 2009 | 13,278 |
| 2010 | 13,294 |
| 2011 | 13,429 |
| 2012 | 13,212 |
| 2013 | 12,946 |
| 2014 | 13,340 |
| 2015 | 13,633 |
| 2016 | 13,964 |
| 2017 | 13,552 |
| 2018 | 13,228 |
| 2019 | 13,282 |
| 2020 | 10,301 |
| 2021 | 11,445 |
| 2022 | 12,563 |
| 2023 | 12,918 |
| 2024 | 12,876 |
| 2025 | 15,389 |
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 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A551 collisions
Police recorded 108 collisions with the A551 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 32 of them fatal or serious. That is 40.8 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 17.4% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | 8 |
| 2022 | 24 | 5 |
| 2023 | 15 | 5 |
| 2024 | 10 | 7 |
| 2025 | 13 | 6 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Mill Lane to B5145 Wirral · 22 collisions | 141.3 |
| A552 to A5027 Wirral · 15 collisions | 43.4 |
| Whitehouse Lane to Barnsdale Ave Wirral · 11 collisions | 38.6 |
| A553 to A554 Wirral · 19 collisions | 24.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 19 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A551 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 A551
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- 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 | 15 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 108 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.