A-road
A591 traffic and collisions
The A591 is an A-road of 44.3 miles, from Westmorland and Furness to Cumberland. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 154m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 9,499 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 32,551 A590(T) to A6
- HGV share 1.9% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +6.6% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 116 15.8 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A591?
On an average day in 2025, 9,499 vehicles passed each point on the A591, counting both directions. The busiest section is A590(T) to A6 (Westmorland and Furness), with 32,551 a day; the quietest listed is A66T to A595, with 2,479.
Busiest sections, 2025
A590(T) to A6 carries 3.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A590(T) to A6 Westmorland and Furness · 2.2 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 32,551 |
| A6 to A5284 Westmorland and Furness · 3.2 mi · HGVs 3.5% | 18,273 |
| A5074 High St to A592 Westmorland and Furness · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 17,176 |
| A5284 roundabout to A5074 High St Westmorland and Furness · 6.6 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 17,091 |
| A592 to A5095 Westmorland and Furness · 3.2 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 11,566 |
| A5271 to A66 Cumberland · 0.5 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 7,916 |
| A5095 to A591 Wansfell Rd Westmorland and Furness · 0.6 mi · HGVs 0.7% | 7,792 |
| A591/A593 Junction (Ambleside) to A5271/A591 Junction Near Brigham Westmorland and Furness, Cumberland · 15.5 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 5,743 |
| A66T to A595 Cumberland · 11.2 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 2,479 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Westmorland and Furness to Cumberland · 44.3 miles
A591 traffic and collisions by section
12 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.3 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A590(T) to A6Westmorland and Furness | 32,551 | 6 |
| 2 | A6 to A5284Westmorland and Furness | 18,273 | 7 |
| 3 | A5284 roundabout to A5074 High StWestmorland and Furness | 17,091 | 23 |
| 4 | A5074 High St to A592Westmorland and Furness | 17,176 | 5 |
| 5 | A592 to A5095Westmorland and Furness | 11,566 | 15 |
| 6 | A5095 to A591 Wansfell RdWestmorland and Furness | 7,792 | 0 |
| 7 | Wansfell Rd to Kelsick RdWestmorland and Furness | 7,320 | fewer than 3 |
| 8 | Kelsick Rd to Church StreetWestmorland and Furness | 6,234 | fewer than 3 |
| 9 | A593 to Compston Corner (A593/A591 intersection)Westmorland and Furness | 6,944 | 4 |
| 10 | A591/A593 Junction (Ambleside) to A5271/A591 Junction Near BrighamWestmorland and Furness, Cumberland | 5,743 | 41 |
| 11 | A5271 to A66Cumberland | 7,916 | fewer than 3 |
| 12 | A66T to A595Cumberland | 2,479 | 11 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A591 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.
A591 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 81.2% of the vehicle miles on the A591. HGVs account for 1.9%, rising to 3.5% on A6 to A5284.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 2.8% |
| 2001 | 3.2% |
| 2002 | 2.6% |
| 2003 | 2.7% |
| 2004 | 2.4% |
| 2005 | 2.4% |
| 2006 | 2.4% |
| 2007 | 2.6% |
| 2008 | 2.6% |
| 2009 | 2.4% |
| 2010 | 2.5% |
| 2011 | 2.3% |
| 2012 | 2.3% |
| 2013 | 2.2% |
| 2014 | 2.2% |
| 2015 | 2.3% |
| 2016 | 2.5% |
| 2017 | 2.5% |
| 2018 | 2.6% |
| 2019 | 2.6% |
| 2020 | 3.1% |
| 2021 | 2.5% |
| 2022 | 2.4% |
| 2023 | 2.3% |
| 2024 | 2.1% |
| 2025 | 1.9% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A591 traffic trend
Traffic on the A591 came to 154 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 6.6% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 7.7% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 2.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 134m |
| 2001 | 120m |
| 2002 | 141m |
| 2003 | 136m |
| 2004 | 139m |
| 2005 | 134m |
| 2006 | 134m |
| 2007 | 136m |
| 2008 | 125m |
| 2009 | 125m |
| 2010 | 125m |
| 2011 | 124m |
| 2012 | 122m |
| 2013 | 128m |
| 2014 | 129m |
| 2015 | 130m |
| 2016 | 133m |
| 2017 | 135m |
| 2018 | 139m |
| 2019 | 139m |
| 2020 | 102m |
| 2021 | 132m |
| 2022 | 142m |
| 2023 | 153m |
| 2024 | 156m |
| 2025 | 154m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 8,328 |
| 2001 | 7,440 |
| 2002 | 8,729 |
| 2003 | 8,421 |
| 2004 | 8,617 |
| 2005 | 8,328 |
| 2006 | 8,303 |
| 2007 | 8,401 |
| 2008 | 7,715 |
| 2009 | 7,760 |
| 2010 | 7,749 |
| 2011 | 7,657 |
| 2012 | 7,589 |
| 2013 | 7,916 |
| 2014 | 7,979 |
| 2015 | 8,058 |
| 2016 | 8,240 |
| 2017 | 8,434 |
| 2018 | 8,598 |
| 2019 | 8,563 |
| 2020 | 6,288 |
| 2021 | 8,122 |
| 2022 | 8,762 |
| 2023 | 9,440 |
| 2024 | 9,627 |
| 2025 | 9,499 |
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 (64.6% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 4 of the 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A591 collisions
Police recorded 116 collisions with the A591 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 39 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 15.8 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.5 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 52.9% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | 5 |
| 2022 | 16 | 7 |
| 2023 | 17 | 5 |
| 2024 | 19 | 9 |
| 2025 | 13 | 13 |
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.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| A591/A593 Junction (Ambleside) to A5271/A591 Junction Near Brigham Westmorland and Furness, Cumberland · 41 collisions | 43.0 |
| A66T to A595 Cumberland · 11 collisions | 29.2 |
| A592 to A5095 Westmorland and Furness · 15 collisions | 23.1 |
| A5284 roundabout to A5074 High St Westmorland and Furness · 23 collisions | 10.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 8 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A591 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 A591
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Westmorland and Furness
- Cumberland
Data sources and methodology
| 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 | 15 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 116 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.