A-road

A552 traffic and collisions

The A552 is an A-road of 5.4 miles, in Wirral. This page covers its traffic at 8 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
8 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 37m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 18,784 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 32,246 M53 to A551
  • HGV share 0.8% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +0.2% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 55 37.0 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A552?

On an average day in 2025, 18,784 vehicles passed each point on the A552, counting both directions. The busiest section is M53 to A551 (Wirral), with 32,246 a day; the quietest listed is A5029 to B5151, with 14,638.

Busiest sections, 2025

M53 to A551 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A552 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
M53 to A551 Wirral · 1.2 mi · HGVs 0.9% 32,246
B5147 to A5029 Wirral · 0.5 mi · HGVs 0.3% 17,928
B5151 to M53 Wirral · 1.7 mi · HGVs 0.7% 16,905
A5029 to B5151 Wirral · 1.2 mi · HGVs 0.5% 14,638

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Wirral · 5.4 miles

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

A552 traffic and collisions by section

7 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.2 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A552 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Argyle St to A41Wirral0.33,9520.5%−6.2%fewer than 3
2Hinson St to A553Wirral0.19,9241.1%−5.7%fewer than 3
3A553 to B5147Wirral0.216,8461.1%+3.9%fewer than 3
4B5147 to A5029Wirral0.517,9280.3%−3.4%5
5A5029 to B5151Wirral1.214,6380.5%+3.0%2481.5
6B5151 to M53Wirral1.716,9050.7%17162.1
7M53 to A551Wirral1.232,2460.9%4

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A552 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.

A552 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 84.3% of the vehicle miles on the A552. HGVs account for 0.8%.

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 A552, by year
Year HGV share
2000 1.4%
2001 1.4%
2002 1.3%
2003 1.4%
2004 1.5%
2005 1.5%
2006 1.5%
2007 1.4%
2008 1.4%
2009 1.3%
2010 1.4%
2011 1.3%
2012 1.2%
2013 1.3%
2014 1.3%
2015 1.2%
2016 1.3%
2017 1.2%
2018 1.2%
2019 1.2%
2020 1.1%
2021 1.1%
2022 1.0%
2023 1.0%
2024 0.8%
2025 0.8%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A552 traffic trend

Traffic on the A552 came to 37 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is about the same as in 2019, before the pandemic, and down 8.9% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 20.7% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A552 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 31m
2001 32m
2002 33m
2003 31m
2004 30m
2005 29m
2006 29m
2007 28m
2008 26m
2009 26m
2010 26m
2011 27m
2012 27m
2013 27m
2014 28m
2015 28m
2016 27m
2017 25m
2018 28m
2019 28m
2020 23m
2021 25m
2022 28m
2023 29m
2024 30m
2025 37m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A552, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 19,723
2001 20,569
2002 20,944
2003 19,462
2004 19,347
2005 18,367
2006 18,634
2007 17,568
2008 16,771
2009 16,823
2010 16,790
2011 17,337
2012 17,207
2013 17,191
2014 17,554
2015 17,794
2016 16,945
2017 16,020
2018 16,107
2019 16,187
2020 13,203
2021 14,510
2022 15,981
2023 16,295
2024 16,849
2025 18,784

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 (46.3% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 2 of the 8 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A552 collisions

Police recorded 55 collisions with the A552 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 15 of them fatal or serious. That is 37.0 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.0 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 36.4% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A552 by year
Year Collisions
2021 11
2022 10
2023 14
2024 13
2025 7

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 A552, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
B5151 to M53 Wirral · 17 collisions 162.1
A5029 to B5151 Wirral · 24 collisions 81.5

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

A further 6 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A552 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 A552

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • Wirral

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 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 55 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.