A-road

A6038 traffic and collisions

The A6038 is an A-road of 5.7 miles, from Bradford to Leeds. This page covers its traffic at 9 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
9 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 34m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 16,411 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 19,089 A657 to Centenary Road
  • HGV share 2.5% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −6.9% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 68 40.9 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A6038?

On an average day in 2025, 16,411 vehicles passed each point on the A6038, counting both directions. The busiest section is A657 to Centenary Road (Bradford), with 19,089 a day; the quietest listed is Hawksworth Lane to A65, with 10,409.

Busiest sections, 2025

A657 to Centenary Road carries 1.2 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A6038 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A657 to Centenary Road Bradford · 1.8 mi · HGVs 2.9% 19,089
Centenary Rd to Haawksworth Lane Bradford, Leeds · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.9% 18,298
WEST BUSK LANE to A660 Leeds · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.9% 12,978
A65 to WEST BUSK LANE Bradford, Leeds · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.0% 10,808
Hawksworth Lane to A65 Leeds · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.6% 10,409

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Bradford to Leeds · 5.7 miles

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

A6038 traffic and collisions by section

7 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A6038 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A650(T) to A6037Bradford0.212,7074.7%−5.6%fewer than 3
2A6037 to A657Bradford0.423,6623.4%−8.1%12
3A657 to Centenary RoadBradford1.819,0892.9%+8.2%3557.6
4Centenary Rd to Haawksworth LaneBradford, Leeds1.418,2981.9%−15.2%6
5Hawksworth Lane to A65Leeds0.710,4091.6%−14.8%8
6A65 to WEST BUSK LANEBradford, Leeds0.610,8082.0%+1.7%fewer than 3
7WEST BUSK LANE to A660Leeds0.612,9781.9%−26.5%3

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A6038 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.

A6038 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 82.0% of the vehicle miles on the A6038. HGVs account for 2.5%.

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 A6038, by year
Year HGV share
2000 3.2%
2001 2.8%
2002 2.7%
2003 2.7%
2004 2.8%
2005 2.7%
2006 2.7%
2007 2.6%
2008 2.7%
2009 2.5%
2010 2.4%
2011 2.5%
2012 2.5%
2013 2.7%
2014 2.7%
2015 2.6%
2016 2.5%
2017 2.3%
2018 2.4%
2019 2.4%
2020 2.9%
2021 3.0%
2022 2.7%
2023 2.6%
2024 2.5%
2025 2.5%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A6038 traffic trend

Traffic on the A6038 came to 34.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 6.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 5.0% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 3.4% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A6038 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 35m
2001 35m
2002 36m
2003 36m
2004 37m
2005 36m
2006 36m
2007 36m
2008 35m
2009 35m
2010 34m
2011 35m
2012 35m
2013 34m
2014 35m
2015 36m
2016 37m
2017 37m
2018 36m
2019 37m
2020 29m
2021 32m
2022 33m
2023 34m
2024 34m
2025 34m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A6038, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 16,983
2001 16,845
2002 17,154
2003 17,063
2004 17,574
2005 17,449
2006 17,336
2007 17,133
2008 16,914
2009 16,667
2010 16,511
2011 16,609
2012 16,559
2013 16,407
2014 16,862
2015 17,271
2016 17,704
2017 17,658
2018 17,505
2019 17,625
2020 13,845
2021 15,173
2022 15,849
2023 16,221
2024 16,312
2025 16,411

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

A6038 collisions

Police recorded 68 collisions with the A6038 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 21 of them fatal or serious. That is 40.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.4 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 6.3% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A6038 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 124
2022 84
2023 74
2024 95
2025 114

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 A6038, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A657 to Centenary Road Bradford · 35 collisions 57.6

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

A further 13 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A6038 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 A6038

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

  • Bradford
  • Leeds

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 9 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 68 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.