A-road

A589 traffic and collisions

The A589 is an A-road of 7.7 miles, in Lancashire. This page covers its traffic at 5 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
5 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 42m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 14,878 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 23,880 A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683
  • HGV share 0.9% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −7.5% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 90 42.9 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A589?

On an average day in 2025, 14,878 vehicles passed each point on the A589, counting both directions. The busiest section is A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683 (Lancashire), with 23,880 a day; the quietest listed is A683 to A5105, with 9,179.

Busiest sections, 2025

A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683 carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A589 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683 Lancashire · 1.6 mi · HGVs 1.1% 23,880
A683 to A589 Lancashire · 4.1 mi · HGVs 0.6% 13,017
A683 to A5105 Lancashire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 0.9% 9,179

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Lancashire · 7.7 miles

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

A589 traffic and collisions by section

4 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 A589 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Morecambe Road to Bulk RdLancashire0.417,2821.3%−21.2%3
2A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683Lancashire1.623,8801.1%+1.5%2335.0
3A683 to A5105Lancashire1.49,1790.9%−9.1%1251.9
4A683 to A589Lancashire4.113,0170.6%−10.2%4950.5

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A589 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.

A589 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 85.8% of the vehicle miles on the A589. HGVs account for 0.9%.

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 A589, by year
Year HGV share
2000 4.1%
2001 4.1%
2002 4.7%
2003 4.3%
2004 4.3%
2005 4.2%
2006 4.6%
2007 4.5%
2008 3.4%
2009 3.1%
2010 3.4%
2011 3.5%
2012 3.4%
2013 3.4%
2014 3.5%
2015 3.4%
2016 3.4%
2017 3.6%
2018 3.7%
2019 2.4%
2020 2.5%
2021 2.4%
2022 2.3%
2023 1.9%
2024 0.9%
2025 0.9%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A589 traffic trend

Traffic on the A589 came to 41.8 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 7.5% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 18.4% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 4.1% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A589 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 44m
2001 50m
2002 52m
2003 44m
2004 48m
2005 46m
2006 46m
2007 45m
2008 46m
2009 47m
2010 47m
2011 47m
2012 46m
2013 46m
2014 47m
2015 47m
2016 44m
2017 49m
2018 48m
2019 47m
2020 36m
2021 40m
2022 43m
2023 44m
2024 42m
2025 42m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A589, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 15,470
2001 17,562
2002 18,125
2003 15,564
2004 16,823
2005 16,232
2006 16,172
2007 15,826
2008 16,248
2009 16,458
2010 16,373
2011 16,501
2012 16,309
2013 16,270
2014 16,662
2015 16,454
2016 15,610
2017 15,810
2018 15,711
2019 15,308
2020 11,816
2021 12,985
2022 13,898
2023 14,358
2024 14,819
2025 14,878

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 5 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A589 collisions

Police recorded 90 collisions with the A589 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 29 of them fatal or serious. That is 42.9 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

Down 31.3% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A589 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 115
2022 178
2023 1210
2024 133
2025 83

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 A589, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A683 to A5105 Lancashire · 12 collisions 51.9
A683 to A589 Lancashire · 49 collisions 50.5
A589 Greyhound Bridge Rd to A683 Lancashire · 23 collisions 35.0

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

A further 20 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A589 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 96.7% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A589

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 5 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 90 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.