A-road

A602 traffic and collisions

The A602 is an A-road of 18.1 miles, in Hertfordshire. This page covers its traffic at 17 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
17 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 170m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 25,796 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 36,908 Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M)
  • HGV share 2.3% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +1.2% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 210 27.3 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A602?

On an average day in 2025, 25,796 vehicles passed each point on the A602, counting both directions. The busiest section is Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M) (Hertfordshire), with 36,908 a day; the quietest listed is A119 to Hertford Rd, Stevenage, with 19,611.

Busiest sections, 2025

Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M) carries 1.4 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A602 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M) Hertfordshire · 0.5 mi · HGVs 1.3% 36,908
Whitehill Rd to B656 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.7% 34,044
A1(M) to Whitehill Rd, Hitchin Hertfordshire · 2.3 mi · HGVs 2.7% 32,117
A1070 to A1155 Hertfordshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 0.3% 29,180
B656 to A505 Hertfordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.7% 28,161
Hertford Rd to B197 Hertfordshire · 2.3 mi · HGVs 2.0% 27,256
B197 to A1155 Hertfordshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.5% 25,172
A10 to A119 Hertfordshire · 4.2 mi · HGVs 3.2% 21,955
A1155 to A602 split Hertfordshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.6% 21,169
A119 to Hertford Rd, Stevenage Hertfordshire · 3.4 mi · HGVs 3.1% 19,611

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

In Hertfordshire · 18.1 miles

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

A602 traffic and collisions by section

14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (1.0 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A602 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A10 to A119Hertfordshire4.221,9553.2%2677.3
2A119 to Hertford Rd, StevenageHertfordshire3.419,6113.1%+7.7%2118.9
3Hertford Rd to B197Hertfordshire2.327,2562.0%1878.7
4B197 to A1155Hertfordshire0.725,1720.5%+4.4%1033.4
5A1155 to A1070Hertfordshire0.219,3730.3%+16.7%9
6A1070 to A1155Hertfordshire0.629,1800.3%−5.7%9
7A1155 to A602 splitHertfordshire0.821,1690.6%−11.2%1448.4
8A602 split to A602 mergeHertfordshire0.215,9410.7%−6.0%5
9A602 split to A1072Hertfordshire0.217,8581.0%−14.4%8
10A1072 to Coreys Mill LaneHertfordshire0.440,5581.3%−9.6%8
11Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M)Hertfordshire0.536,9081.3%−9.6%1650.2
12A1(M) to Whitehill Rd, HitchinHertfordshire2.332,1172.7%−0.4%2821.3
13Whitehill Rd to B656Hertfordshire0.634,0442.7%−0.4%1027.5
14B656 to A505Hertfordshire0.728,1612.7%+39.7%1648.8

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A602 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.

A602 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 81.6% of the vehicle miles on the A602. HGVs account for 2.3%.

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 A602, by year
Year HGV share
2000 3.5%
2001 3.5%
2002 3.8%
2003 4.3%
2004 4.0%
2005 3.7%
2006 3.9%
2007 4.1%
2008 3.8%
2009 3.5%
2010 3.2%
2011 3.2%
2012 3.2%
2013 3.2%
2014 3.1%
2015 3.0%
2016 3.1%
2017 3.1%
2018 2.8%
2019 2.5%
2020 3.0%
2021 2.6%
2022 2.5%
2023 2.4%
2024 2.4%
2025 2.3%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A602 traffic trend

Traffic on the A602 came to 170 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 1.2% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.5% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 2.6% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A602 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 137m
2001 140m
2002 142m
2003 144m
2004 143m
2005 144m
2006 151m
2007 147m
2008 143m
2009 141m
2010 137m
2011 142m
2012 138m
2013 143m
2014 149m
2015 152m
2016 156m
2017 151m
2018 152m
2019 157m
2020 119m
2021 134m
2022 147m
2023 154m
2024 166m
2025 170m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A602, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 22,762
2001 23,174
2002 23,494
2003 23,877
2004 23,735
2005 23,847
2006 25,000
2007 24,403
2008 23,751
2009 23,409
2010 22,758
2011 22,960
2012 22,400
2013 23,116
2014 24,113
2015 24,666
2016 25,254
2017 24,526
2018 23,386
2019 24,163
2020 18,379
2021 20,581
2022 22,581
2023 23,634
2024 25,478
2025 25,796

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 (64.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 5 of the 17 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A602 collisions

Police recorded 210 collisions with the A602 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 38 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 27.3 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower 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 56.3% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A602 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 275
2022 416
2023 345
2024 339
2025 3713

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 A602, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
Hertford Rd to B197 Hertfordshire · 18 collisions 78.7
A10 to A119 Hertfordshire · 26 collisions 77.3
Coreys Mill Lane to A1(M) Hertfordshire · 16 collisions 50.2
B656 to A505 Hertfordshire · 16 collisions 48.8
A1155 to A602 split Hertfordshire · 14 collisions 48.4
B197 to A1155 Hertfordshire · 10 collisions 33.4
Whitehill Rd to B656 Hertfordshire · 10 collisions 27.5
A1(M) to Whitehill Rd, Hitchin Hertfordshire · 28 collisions 21.3

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

A further 54 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A602 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 94.3% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A602

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

  • Hertfordshire

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 17 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 210 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.