A-road
A600 traffic and collisions
The A600 is an A-road of 17.5 miles, from Hertfordshire to Bedford. This page covers its traffic at 26 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 68m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 10,716 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 18,216 n/a (roundabout) to A421
- HGV share 2.2% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −4.8% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 170 52.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A600?
On an average day in 2025, 10,716 vehicles passed each point on the A600, counting both directions. The busiest section is n/a (roundabout) to A421 (Bedford), with 18,216 a day; the quietest listed is B658 to Shortstown, with 8,289.
Busiest sections, 2025
n/a (roundabout) to A421 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| n/a (roundabout) to A421 Bedford · 1.0 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 18,216 |
| A505 to Turnpike Lane Hertfordshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 13,423 |
| At A5134 Bedford · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 12,346 |
| A5134 to Elstow Rd Bedford · 0.8 mi · HGVs 1.0% | 12,120 |
| A507 to B658 Central Bedfordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 11,258 |
| Turnpike Lane, Hitchin to A6001 Hertfordshire, Central Bedfordshire · 2.9 mi · HGVs 3.0% | 9,800 |
| A6001 to A507 Central Bedfordshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 8,588 |
| B658 to Shortstown Central Bedfordshire, Bedford · 6.0 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 8,289 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Hertfordshire to Bedford · 17.5 miles
A600 traffic and collisions by section
18 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 6 short link roads and spurs (1.2 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Show all 18 sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A505 to Turnpike LaneHertfordshire | 13,423 | 14 |
| 2 | Turnpike Lane, Hitchin to A6001Hertfordshire, Central Bedfordshire | 9,800 | 7 |
| 3 | A6001 to A507Central Bedfordshire | 8,588 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | A507 to B658Central Bedfordshire | 11,258 | fewer than 3 |
| 5 | B658 to ShortstownCentral Bedfordshire, Bedford | 8,289 | 15 |
| 6 | n/a (roundabout) to A421Bedford | 18,216 | 7 |
| 7 | A421 to A5134Bedford | 18,479 | 3 |
| 8 | At A5134Bedford | 12,346 | 3 |
| 9 | A5134 to Elstow RdBedford | 12,120 | 25 |
| 10 | Elstow Rd to A6Bedford | 22,356 | 9 |
| 11 | Rope Walk roundabout to Cauldwell StBedford | 14,223 | 5 |
| 12 | A6 Cauldwell St to A6 St Pauls SquareBedford | 20,077 | 8 |
| 13 | St Paul's Sq (south side) to St Paul's Sq (north side)Bedford | 10,025 | fewer than 3 |
| 14 | St Paul's Sq to A428Bedford | 10,025 | 6 |
| 15 | St Peter's St to Harpur StBedford | 13,717 | 0 |
| 16 | Harpur St to Union StBedford | 10,620 | 9 |
| 17 | Union St to A5141Bedford | 15,914 | 15 |
| 18 | A5141 to Cut Throat LaneBedford | 15,227 | 7 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A600 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.
A600 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 82.1% of the vehicle miles on the A600. HGVs account for 2.2%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.6% |
| 2001 | 3.7% |
| 2002 | 3.9% |
| 2003 | 3.5% |
| 2004 | 4.2% |
| 2005 | 4.2% |
| 2006 | 4.3% |
| 2007 | 3.8% |
| 2008 | 3.4% |
| 2009 | 2.9% |
| 2010 | 3.1% |
| 2011 | 3.1% |
| 2012 | 3.0% |
| 2013 | 2.9% |
| 2014 | 2.9% |
| 2015 | 2.9% |
| 2016 | 2.7% |
| 2017 | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 2.3% |
| 2020 | 2.7% |
| 2021 | 2.6% |
| 2022 | 2.4% |
| 2023 | 2.3% |
| 2024 | 2.3% |
| 2025 | 2.2% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A600 traffic trend
Traffic on the A600 came to 68.4 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 4.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 9.1% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 1.1% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 53m |
| 2001 | 53m |
| 2002 | 54m |
| 2003 | 54m |
| 2004 | 58m |
| 2005 | 55m |
| 2006 | 56m |
| 2007 | 57m |
| 2008 | 60m |
| 2009 | 85m |
| 2010 | 56m |
| 2011 | 56m |
| 2012 | 57m |
| 2013 | 57m |
| 2014 | 59m |
| 2015 | 60m |
| 2016 | 62m |
| 2017 | 71m |
| 2018 | 70m |
| 2019 | 70m |
| 2020 | 53m |
| 2021 | 59m |
| 2022 | 65m |
| 2023 | 66m |
| 2024 | 68m |
| 2025 | 68m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 10,056 |
| 2001 | 9,932 |
| 2002 | 10,189 |
| 2003 | 10,230 |
| 2004 | 10,882 |
| 2005 | 10,386 |
| 2006 | 10,657 |
| 2007 | 10,676 |
| 2008 | 11,262 |
| 2009 | 11,397 |
| 2010 | 10,665 |
| 2011 | 10,683 |
| 2012 | 10,703 |
| 2013 | 10,830 |
| 2014 | 11,104 |
| 2015 | 11,283 |
| 2016 | 11,119 |
| 2017 | 11,275 |
| 2018 | 11,059 |
| 2019 | 11,070 |
| 2020 | 8,416 |
| 2021 | 9,364 |
| 2022 | 10,098 |
| 2023 | 10,340 |
| 2024 | 10,611 |
| 2025 | 10,716 |
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 (77.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 3 of the 26 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A600 collisions
Police recorded 170 collisions with the A600 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 50 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 52.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 120.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | 3 |
| 2022 | 31 | 12 |
| 2023 | 20 | 13 |
| 2024 | 23 | 7 |
| 2025 | 29 | 15 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A5134 to Elstow Rd Bedford · 25 collisions | 141.5 |
| A505 to Turnpike Lane Hertfordshire · 14 collisions | 68.3 |
| B658 to Shortstown Central Bedfordshire, Bedford · 15 collisions | 18.9 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 49 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A600 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 A600
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Hertfordshire
- Central Bedfordshire
- Bedford
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 | 26 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 170 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.