A-road

A586 traffic and collisions

The A586 is an A-road of 12.9 miles, from Lancashire to Blackpool. This page covers its traffic at 16 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
16 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 49m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 10,500 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 17,445 A588 to A587
  • HGV share 2.6% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −6.4% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 146 60.4 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A586?

On an average day in 2025, 10,500 vehicles passed each point on the A586, counting both directions. The busiest section is A588 to A587 (Lancashire, Blackpool), with 17,445 a day; the quietest listed is A587 to B5124, with 7,851.

Busiest sections, 2025

A588 to A587 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A586 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A588 to A587 Lancashire, Blackpool · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.2% 17,445
A588/A586 intersection near Poulton-le-Fylde to A585 Trunk Road Lancashire · 1.1 mi · HGVs 2.4% 11,029
A585 to A6 Lancashire · 7.0 mi · HGVs 3.6% 10,112
A587 to B5124 Blackpool · 1.1 mi · HGVs 1.8% 7,851

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Lancashire to Blackpool · 12.9 miles

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

A586 traffic and collisions by section

9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 6 short link roads and spurs (0.9 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A586 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A585 to A6Lancashire7.010,1123.6%−6.7%2520.1
2A588/A586 intersection near Poulton-le-Fylde to A585 Trunk RoadLancashire1.111,0292.4%17191.7
3At A588Lancashire0.316,1481.9%+6.5%7
4A588 to A587Lancashire, Blackpool1.617,4451.2%+0.5%5
5A587 to B5124Blackpool1.17,8511.8%−6.6%25163.6
6B5124 to A586 Larkhill StBlackpool0.48,6791.1%−6.6%9
7midway between High St/Cookson St to Larkhill StBlackpool0.18,6791.1%−6.6%7
8Topping St to Talbot RdBlackpool0.23,6921.0%−68.2%6
9A583/A584 to A586 Dickson RdBlackpool0.23,6020.9%−28.6%27

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A586 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.

A586 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 78.9% of the vehicle miles on the A586. HGVs account for 2.6%.

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 A586, by year
Year HGV share
2000 3.9%
2001 4.0%
2002 4.2%
2003 4.3%
2004 4.9%
2005 4.9%
2006 4.7%
2007 5.1%
2008 4.5%
2009 4.2%
2010 4.0%
2011 4.0%
2012 3.3%
2013 3.4%
2014 3.4%
2015 3.1%
2016 3.2%
2017 3.2%
2018 3.0%
2019 2.9%
2020 3.2%
2021 3.2%
2022 3.0%
2023 2.9%
2024 2.7%
2025 2.6%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A586 traffic trend

Traffic on the A586 came to 49.4 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 6.4% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 2.0% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

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

Vehicle miles on the A586 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 58m
2001 52m
2002 54m
2003 55m
2004 57m
2005 52m
2006 54m
2007 53m
2008 54m
2009 54m
2010 54m
2011 54m
2012 54m
2013 54m
2014 55m
2015 53m
2016 54m
2017 53m
2018 54m
2019 54m
2020 42m
2021 45m
2022 49m
2023 50m
2024 49m
2025 49m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A586, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 12,175
2001 10,881
2002 11,385
2003 11,507
2004 12,073
2005 10,853
2006 11,400
2007 11,117
2008 11,322
2009 11,386
2010 11,310
2011 11,408
2012 11,294
2013 11,265
2014 11,541
2015 11,064
2016 11,323
2017 11,236
2018 11,198
2019 11,139
2020 8,622
2021 9,338
2022 9,991
2023 10,200
2024 10,422
2025 10,500

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 (89.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 16 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A586 collisions

Police recorded 146 collisions with the A586 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 52 of them fatal or serious. That is 60.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.3 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 50.0% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A586 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 166
2022 1613
2023 2514
2024 158
2025 2211

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 A586, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A588/A586 intersection near Poulton-le-Fylde to A585 Trunk Road Lancashire · 17 collisions 191.7
A587 to B5124 Blackpool · 25 collisions 163.6
A585 to A6 Lancashire · 25 collisions 20.1

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

A further 37 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A586 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 87.7% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A586

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

  • Lancashire
  • Blackpool

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 16 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 146 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.