A-road
A653 traffic and collisions
The A653 is an A-road of 10.5 miles, from Kirklees to Leeds. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 86m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 22,318 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 42,577 M62 to A6110 Millshaw Road
- HGV share 2.4% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −7.7% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 215 56.4 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A653?
On an average day in 2025, 22,318 vehicles passed each point on the A653, counting both directions. The busiest section is M62 to A6110 Millshaw Road (Leeds), with 42,577 a day; the quietest listed is A6110 Millshaw Road to A6110 Ring road Beeston, with 10,394.
Busiest sections, 2025
M62 to A6110 Millshaw Road carries 1.9 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| M62 to A6110 Millshaw Road Leeds · 2.1 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 42,577 |
| Saxton Lane (Minor Road) to A64(M)/A653 Intersection Leeds · 0.5 mi · HGVs 2.8% | 34,904 |
| A6029 to M62 Leeds · 0.9 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 22,630 |
| M621 J3 to A61 Great Wilson Street Leeds · 1.0 mi · HGVs 1.1% | 22,259 |
| Dewsbury Road / M621 to Apex View, Leeds Leeds · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 17,719 |
| A638 to A6029 Kirklees, Leeds · 3.0 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 14,170 |
| A6110 Ring Road Beeston to M621 Leeds · 1.7 mi · HGVs 3.8% | 12,003 |
| A6110 Millshaw Road to A6110 Ring road Beeston Leeds · 0.5 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 10,394 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Kirklees to Leeds · 10.5 miles
A653 traffic and collisions by section
9 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 | A638 to A6029Kirklees, Leeds | 14,170 | 43 |
| 2 | A6029 to M62Leeds | 22,630 | 13 |
| 3 | M62 to A6110 Millshaw RoadLeeds | 42,577 | 33 |
| 4 | A6110 Millshaw Road to A6110 Ring road BeestonLeeds | 10,394 | 5 |
| 5 | A6110 Ring Road Beeston to M621Leeds | 12,003 | 84 |
| 6 | Dewsbury Road / M621 to Apex View, LeedsLeeds | 17,719 | 11 |
| 7 | M621 J3 to A61 Great Wilson StreetLeeds | 22,259 | 17 |
| 8 | Near Leed College of Technology to Saxton Lane (Minor Road)Leeds | 30,527 | 4 |
| 9 | Saxton Lane (Minor Road) to A64(M)/A653 IntersectionLeeds | 34,904 | 5 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A653 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.
A653 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 84.3% of the vehicle miles on the A653. HGVs account for 2.4%, rising to 4.0% on A6029 to M62.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.2% |
| 2001 | 3.1% |
| 2002 | 2.8% |
| 2003 | 2.8% |
| 2004 | 2.8% |
| 2005 | 2.8% |
| 2006 | 2.8% |
| 2007 | 2.5% |
| 2008 | 2.4% |
| 2009 | 2.1% |
| 2010 | 2.0% |
| 2011 | 1.9% |
| 2012 | 1.9% |
| 2013 | 1.9% |
| 2014 | 2.2% |
| 2015 | 2.2% |
| 2016 | 2.6% |
| 2017 | 2.5% |
| 2018 | 2.6% |
| 2019 | 2.6% |
| 2020 | 3.1% |
| 2021 | 3.2% |
| 2022 | 3.0% |
| 2023 | 2.9% |
| 2024 | 2.4% |
| 2025 | 2.4% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A653 traffic trend
Traffic on the A653 came to 85.5 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 7.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 13.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 8.7% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 86m |
| 2001 | 82m |
| 2002 | 82m |
| 2003 | 84m |
| 2004 | 85m |
| 2005 | 83m |
| 2006 | 83m |
| 2007 | 84m |
| 2008 | 84m |
| 2009 | 84m |
| 2010 | 83m |
| 2011 | 92m |
| 2012 | 87m |
| 2013 | 86m |
| 2014 | 87m |
| 2015 | 88m |
| 2016 | 89m |
| 2017 | 89m |
| 2018 | 88m |
| 2019 | 81m |
| 2020 | 60m |
| 2021 | 64m |
| 2022 | 76m |
| 2023 | 79m |
| 2024 | 77m |
| 2025 | 86m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 24,164 |
| 2001 | 23,044 |
| 2002 | 23,242 |
| 2003 | 23,771 |
| 2004 | 24,027 |
| 2005 | 23,779 |
| 2006 | 24,059 |
| 2007 | 24,188 |
| 2008 | 23,851 |
| 2009 | 23,800 |
| 2010 | 23,309 |
| 2011 | 24,834 |
| 2012 | 23,711 |
| 2013 | 23,226 |
| 2014 | 23,717 |
| 2015 | 23,926 |
| 2016 | 24,118 |
| 2017 | 24,550 |
| 2018 | 24,372 |
| 2019 | 24,156 |
| 2020 | 17,872 |
| 2021 | 19,100 |
| 2022 | 20,927 |
| 2023 | 21,713 |
| 2024 | 21,363 |
| 2025 | 22,318 |
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 (49.5% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 0 of the 10 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A653 collisions
Police recorded 215 collisions with the A653 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 63 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 56.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 4.1 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 26.2% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | 12 |
| 2022 | 27 | 20 |
| 2023 | 37 | 13 |
| 2024 | 31 | 14 |
| 2025 | 27 | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A6110 Ring Road Beeston to M621 Leeds · 84 collisions | 212.4 |
| A6029 to M62 Leeds · 13 collisions | 174.9 |
| M62 to A6110 Millshaw Road Leeds · 33 collisions | 101.1 |
| Dewsbury Road / M621 to Apex View, Leeds Leeds · 11 collisions | 71.0 |
| A638 to A6029 Kirklees, Leeds · 43 collisions | 58.6 |
| M621 J3 to A61 Great Wilson Street Leeds · 17 collisions | 45.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 48 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A653 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 A653
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Kirklees
- Leeds
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 | 10 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 215 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.