A-road

A571 traffic and collisions

The A571 is an A-road of 7.7 miles, from St. Helens to Wigan. This page covers its traffic at 6 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
6 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 34m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 12,185 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 15,112 A570 to A580
  • HGV share 0.8% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −0.2% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 64 39.3 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A571?

On an average day in 2025, 12,185 vehicles passed each point on the A571, counting both directions. The busiest section is A570 to A580 (St. Helens), with 15,112 a day; the quietest listed is A580 to MOSS BANK ROAD, with 8,004.

Busiest sections, 2025

A570 to A580 carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A571 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A570 to A580 St. Helens · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.3% 15,112
Pine View to A49 Wigan · 2.2 mi · HGVs 0.5% 13,561
MOSS BANK ROAD to Pine View St. Helens, Wigan · 2.9 mi · HGVs 0.7% 10,803
A580 to MOSS BANK ROAD St. Helens · 1.0 mi · HGVs 1.2% 8,004

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

St. Helens to Wigan · 7.7 miles

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

A571 traffic and collisions by section

5 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 A571 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1At A570St. Helens0.217,5131.1%−5.9%15
2A570 to A580St. Helens1.415,1121.3%−6.2%1642.8
3A580 to MOSS BANK ROADSt. Helens1.08,0041.2%−7.5%5
4MOSS BANK ROAD to Pine ViewSt. Helens, Wigan2.910,8030.7%+4.0%1832.8
5Pine View to A49Wigan2.213,5610.5%+3.2%9

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A571 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.

A571 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 84.8% of the vehicle miles on the A571. 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 A571, by year
Year HGV share
2000 2.2%
2001 2.1%
2002 1.9%
2003 1.8%
2004 2.1%
2005 1.9%
2006 1.4%
2007 1.4%
2008 1.6%
2009 1.5%
2010 1.8%
2011 1.8%
2012 1.7%
2013 1.6%
2014 1.6%
2015 1.6%
2016 1.5%
2017 1.4%
2018 1.3%
2019 1.2%
2020 1.4%
2021 1.0%
2022 1.0%
2023 0.9%
2024 0.8%
2025 0.8%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A571 traffic trend

Traffic on the A571 came to 34.2 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 about the same as in 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 1.9% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A571 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 34m
2001 33m
2002 35m
2003 35m
2004 35m
2005 35m
2006 35m
2007 35m
2008 34m
2009 35m
2010 33m
2011 34m
2012 33m
2013 33m
2014 34m
2015 34m
2016 35m
2017 35m
2018 34m
2019 34m
2020 26m
2021 30m
2022 32m
2023 33m
2024 34m
2025 34m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A571, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 12,100
2001 11,713
2002 12,491
2003 12,387
2004 12,556
2005 12,535
2006 12,470
2007 12,528
2008 12,228
2009 12,344
2010 11,845
2011 11,917
2012 11,666
2013 11,658
2014 11,977
2015 12,148
2016 12,540
2017 12,458
2018 12,213
2019 12,205
2020 9,312
2021 10,608
2022 11,386
2023 11,614
2024 12,100
2025 12,185

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, 0 of the 6 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A571 collisions

Police recorded 64 collisions with the A571 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 25 of them fatal or serious. That is 39.3 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.7 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 57.1% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A571 by year
Year Collisions
2021 7
2022 14
2023 12
2024 20
2025 11

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 A571, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A570 to A580 St. Helens · 16 collisions 42.8
MOSS BANK ROAD to Pine View St. Helens, Wigan · 18 collisions 32.8

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

A further 7 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A571 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 98.4% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A571

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

  • St. Helens
  • Wigan

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 6 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 64 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.