Trunk A-road

A585 traffic and collisions

The A585 is a trunk A-road of 14.5 miles, in Lancashire. This page covers its traffic at 9 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
9 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 126m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 23,818 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 33,117 A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer House
  • HGV share 3.6% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +5.6% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 174 30.5 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A585?

On an average day in 2025, 23,818 vehicles passed each point on the A585, counting both directions. The busiest section is A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer House (Lancashire), with 33,117 a day; the quietest listed is A583 to M55, with 14,930.

Busiest sections, 2025

A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer House carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A585 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer House Lancashire · 1.7 mi · HGVs 4.3% 33,117
M55 to A586 Lancashire · 3.4 mi · HGVs 4.3% 30,315
A588 to B5628 Fleetwoood Road South Lancashire · 1.3 mi · HGVs 4.1% 26,943
A586 Garstang Road to A588 Lancashire · 1.0 mi · HGVs 4.1% 23,883
B5628 Fleetwood Road South to Bourne Way, Cleveleys Lancashire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 2.9% 20,077
Bourne Way, Cleveleys to A587 Lancashire · 2.7 mi · HGVs 1.6% 17,558
A583 to M55 Lancashire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 3.9% 14,930

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Lancashire · 14.5 miles

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

A585 traffic and collisions by section

9 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 A585 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A583 to M55Lancashire1.914,9303.9%−3.5%1016.4
2M55 to A586Lancashire3.430,3154.3%+15.9%3219.9
3A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer HouseLancashire1.733,1174.3%1129.0
4A586 Garstang Road to A588Lancashire1.023,8834.1%1162.4
5At A588Lancashire0.334,9753.2%8
6A588 to B5628 Fleetwoood Road SouthLancashire1.326,9434.1%+6.0%2647.3
7B5628 Fleetwood Road South to Bourne Way, CleveleysLancashire1.920,0772.9%+2.9%5174.7
8Bourne Way, Cleveleys to A587Lancashire2.717,5581.6%−5.0%2023.3
9A587 to Church StLancashire0.38,9090.8%−6.8%5

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A585 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.

A585 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 78.2% of the vehicle miles on the A585. HGVs account for 3.6%.

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 A585, by year
Year HGV share
2000 5.4%
2001 5.6%
2002 5.6%
2003 5.6%
2004 5.9%
2005 5.7%
2006 6.2%
2007 6.0%
2008 5.5%
2009 5.2%
2010 5.2%
2011 5.1%
2012 4.5%
2013 4.4%
2014 4.3%
2015 4.3%
2016 4.1%
2017 4.1%
2018 4.1%
2019 4.0%
2020 4.8%
2021 4.8%
2022 4.4%
2023 4.2%
2024 4.3%
2025 3.6%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A585 traffic trend

Traffic on the A585 came to 126 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 5.6% on 2019, before the pandemic, and about the same as in 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 13.5% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A585 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 101m
2001 102m
2002 104m
2003 103m
2004 104m
2005 105m
2006 109m
2007 109m
2008 109m
2009 107m
2010 106m
2011 108m
2012 109m
2013 110m
2014 113m
2015 117m
2016 119m
2017 104m
2018 114m
2019 114m
2020 88m
2021 103m
2022 110m
2023 112m
2024 120m
2025 126m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A585, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 20,422
2001 20,448
2002 20,853
2003 20,820
2004 20,880
2005 21,085
2006 21,913
2007 22,006
2008 22,014
2009 21,511
2010 21,339
2011 21,677
2012 21,883
2013 22,106
2014 22,681
2015 23,471
2016 23,910
2017 20,931
2018 22,045
2019 21,968
2020 17,039
2021 19,799
2022 21,297
2023 21,521
2024 22,571
2025 23,818

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 (79.3% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 6 of the 9 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A585 collisions

Police recorded 174 collisions with the A585 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 46 of them fatal or serious. That is 30.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.4 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 5.7% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A585 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 287
2022 2014
2023 2810
2024 268
2025 267

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 A585, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
B5628 Fleetwood Road South to Bourne Way, Cleveleys Lancashire · 51 collisions 74.7
A586 Garstang Road to A588 Lancashire · 11 collisions 62.4
A588 to B5628 Fleetwoood Road South Lancashire · 26 collisions 47.3
A586 to A586/A585 intersection nr. Pointer House Lancashire · 11 collisions 29.0
Bourne Way, Cleveleys to A587 Lancashire · 20 collisions 23.3
M55 to A586 Lancashire · 32 collisions 19.9
A583 to M55 Lancashire · 10 collisions 16.4

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

A further 28 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A585 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 A585

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

  • Lancashire

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 9 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 174 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.