Trunk A-road
A646 traffic and collisions
The A646 is a trunk A-road of 23.1 miles, from Calderdale to Lancashire. This page covers its traffic at 13 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 75m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 8,918 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 16,501 A682 to A679
- HGV share 2.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −4.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 171 47.5 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A646?
On an average day in 2025, 8,918 vehicles passed each point on the A646, counting both directions. The busiest section is A682 to A679 (Lancashire), with 16,501 a day; the quietest listed is Cross Lee Rd, Todmorden to A671, with 5,454.
Busiest sections, 2025
A682 to A679 carries 1.9 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A682 to A679 Lancashire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 16,501 |
| Castle Lane to A6033 Calderdale · 0.9 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 13,932 |
| A646 to A6139 Calderdale · 1.5 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 11,792 |
| A6033 to Cross Lee Rd Calderdale · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 11,653 |
| A6139 to Warley Wood Ave Calderdale · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 10,921 |
| Warley Wood Ave, Luddenden Foot to A6033 Calderdale · 4.2 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 9,839 |
| A671 to Glen View Rd Lancashire · 1.0 mi · HGVs 4.1% | 9,485 |
| A6033 to Castle Lane, Todmorden Calderdale · 3.5 mi · HGVs 2.2% | 8,699 |
| A58 to A629 Calderdale · 1.3 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 7,318 |
| A679 to A671 Lancashire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 5,781 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Calderdale to Lancashire · 23.1 miles
A646 traffic and collisions by section
12 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
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A58 to A629Calderdale | 7,318 | 8 |
| 2 | A646 to A6139Calderdale | 11,792 | 17 |
| 3 | A6139 to Warley Wood AveCalderdale | 10,921 | 7 |
| 4 | Warley Wood Ave, Luddenden Foot to A6033Calderdale | 9,839 | 33 |
| 5 | A6033 to Castle Lane, TodmordenCalderdale | 8,699 | 22 |
| 6 | Castle Lane to A6033Calderdale | 13,932 | 10 |
| 7 | A6033 to Cross Lee RdCalderdale | 11,653 | 9 |
| 8 | Cross Lee Rd, Todmorden to A671Calderdale, Lancashire | 5,454 | 33 |
| 9 | A671 to Glen View RdLancashire | 9,485 | 7 |
| 10 | New Rd to A682Lancashire | 10,528 | 3 |
| 11 | A682 to A679Lancashire | 16,501 | 8 |
| 12 | A679 to A671Lancashire | 5,781 | 14 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A646 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.
A646 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.2% of the vehicle miles on the A646. HGVs account for 2.5%, rising to 4.1% on A671 to Glen View Rd.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.4% |
| 2001 | 3.3% |
| 2002 | 3.5% |
| 2003 | 3.5% |
| 2004 | 3.6% |
| 2005 | 3.5% |
| 2006 | 3.3% |
| 2007 | 3.3% |
| 2008 | 3.4% |
| 2009 | 3.2% |
| 2010 | 3.0% |
| 2011 | 2.9% |
| 2012 | 2.9% |
| 2013 | 2.8% |
| 2014 | 2.9% |
| 2015 | 2.9% |
| 2016 | 2.8% |
| 2017 | 2.6% |
| 2018 | 2.6% |
| 2019 | 2.6% |
| 2020 | 3.1% |
| 2021 | 3.1% |
| 2022 | 2.9% |
| 2023 | 2.8% |
| 2024 | 2.8% |
| 2025 | 2.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A646 traffic trend
Traffic on the A646 came to 75.2 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 4.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 18.2% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 13.6% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 87m |
| 2001 | 88m |
| 2002 | 92m |
| 2003 | 93m |
| 2004 | 93m |
| 2005 | 93m |
| 2006 | 92m |
| 2007 | 92m |
| 2008 | 92m |
| 2009 | 93m |
| 2010 | 93m |
| 2011 | 93m |
| 2012 | 92m |
| 2013 | 91m |
| 2014 | 90m |
| 2015 | 92m |
| 2016 | 93m |
| 2017 | 90m |
| 2018 | 78m |
| 2019 | 78m |
| 2020 | 60m |
| 2021 | 66m |
| 2022 | 71m |
| 2023 | 73m |
| 2024 | 74m |
| 2025 | 75m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 10,346 |
| 2001 | 10,530 |
| 2002 | 10,917 |
| 2003 | 11,025 |
| 2004 | 11,048 |
| 2005 | 11,125 |
| 2006 | 10,987 |
| 2007 | 10,972 |
| 2008 | 10,973 |
| 2009 | 11,035 |
| 2010 | 11,064 |
| 2011 | 11,040 |
| 2012 | 10,894 |
| 2013 | 10,814 |
| 2014 | 10,662 |
| 2015 | 10,924 |
| 2016 | 11,065 |
| 2017 | 10,774 |
| 2018 | 9,237 |
| 2019 | 9,294 |
| 2020 | 7,097 |
| 2021 | 7,877 |
| 2022 | 8,474 |
| 2023 | 8,640 |
| 2024 | 8,755 |
| 2025 | 8,918 |
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, 3 of the 13 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A646 collisions
Police recorded 171 collisions with the A646 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 62 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 47.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.5 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 8.6% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | 12 |
| 2022 | 26 | 13 |
| 2023 | 24 | 11 |
| 2024 | 14 | 16 |
| 2025 | 22 | 10 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A679 to A671 Lancashire · 14 collisions | 152.3 |
| Cross Lee Rd, Todmorden to A671 Calderdale, Lancashire · 33 collisions | 56.2 |
| A646 to A6139 Calderdale · 17 collisions | 53.0 |
| Warley Wood Ave, Luddenden Foot to A6033 Calderdale · 33 collisions | 45.5 |
| Castle Lane to A6033 Calderdale · 10 collisions | 45.1 |
| A6033 to Castle Lane, Todmorden Calderdale · 22 collisions | 41.2 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 26 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A646 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 100.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A646
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Calderdale
- Lancashire
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 | 13 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 171 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.