Trunk A-road
A659 traffic and collisions
The A659 is a trunk A-road of 21.9 miles, from North Yorkshire to Leeds. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 62m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 7,744 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 11,263 A658 to A6083 Bradford Road
- HGV share 2.7% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −6.9% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 70 23.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A659?
On an average day in 2025, 7,744 vehicles passed each point on the A659, counting both directions. The busiest section is A658 to A6083 Bradford Road (Leeds), with 11,263 a day; the quietest listed is A659 High St to A1(T), with 4,073.
Busiest sections, 2025
A658 to A6083 Bradford Road carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A658 to A6083 Bradford Road Leeds · 3.5 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 11,263 |
| Roundabout A168 to A58 Leeds · 0.8 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 10,610 |
| A58 to A61 Leeds · 4.2 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 9,117 |
| A61 to A658 Leeds · 4.4 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 6,959 |
| A64 to A162 North Yorkshire · 2.2 mi · HGVs 5.0% | 5,009 |
| A659 High St to A1(T) North Yorkshire, Leeds · 5.2 mi · HGVs 1.0% | 4,073 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
North Yorkshire to Leeds · 21.9 miles
A659 traffic and collisions by section
8 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 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
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A64 to A162North Yorkshire | 5,009 | 6 |
| 2 | A162 to A659 KirkgateNorth Yorkshire | 9,679 | 0 |
| 3 | A659 High St to A1(T)North Yorkshire, Leeds | 4,073 | 11 |
| 4 | A1(T) to Roundabout A168Leeds | 30,243 | fewer than 3 |
| 5 | Roundabout A168 to A58Leeds | 10,610 | 3 |
| 6 | A58 to A61Leeds | 9,117 | 14 |
| 7 | A61 to A658Leeds | 6,959 | 15 |
| 8 | A658 to A6083 Bradford RoadLeeds | 11,263 | 18 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A659 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.
A659 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.9% of the vehicle miles on the A659. HGVs account for 2.7%, rising to 5.0% on A64 to A162.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.1% |
| 2001 | 2.9% |
| 2002 | 2.9% |
| 2003 | 2.9% |
| 2004 | 2.7% |
| 2005 | 2.9% |
| 2006 | 3.2% |
| 2007 | 3.3% |
| 2008 | 3.0% |
| 2009 | 2.7% |
| 2010 | 2.7% |
| 2011 | 2.9% |
| 2012 | 3.0% |
| 2013 | 3.1% |
| 2014 | 3.1% |
| 2015 | 3.1% |
| 2016 | 3.3% |
| 2017 | 3.4% |
| 2018 | 3.0% |
| 2019 | 2.9% |
| 2020 | 3.5% |
| 2021 | 3.3% |
| 2022 | 3.2% |
| 2023 | 2.8% |
| 2024 | 2.7% |
| 2025 | 2.7% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A659 traffic trend
Traffic on the A659 came to 61.9 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 11.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 6.7% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 61m |
| 2001 | 64m |
| 2002 | 65m |
| 2003 | 67m |
| 2004 | 66m |
| 2005 | 66m |
| 2006 | 67m |
| 2007 | 66m |
| 2008 | 65m |
| 2009 | 64m |
| 2010 | 65m |
| 2011 | 66m |
| 2012 | 65m |
| 2013 | 65m |
| 2014 | 66m |
| 2015 | 65m |
| 2016 | 68m |
| 2017 | 68m |
| 2018 | 67m |
| 2019 | 66m |
| 2020 | 49m |
| 2021 | 54m |
| 2022 | 58m |
| 2023 | 61m |
| 2024 | 61m |
| 2025 | 62m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 7,687 |
| 2001 | 8,106 |
| 2002 | 8,246 |
| 2003 | 8,486 |
| 2004 | 8,369 |
| 2005 | 8,129 |
| 2006 | 8,278 |
| 2007 | 8,143 |
| 2008 | 7,997 |
| 2009 | 7,998 |
| 2010 | 8,069 |
| 2011 | 8,098 |
| 2012 | 8,039 |
| 2013 | 8,009 |
| 2014 | 8,193 |
| 2015 | 8,331 |
| 2016 | 8,380 |
| 2017 | 8,438 |
| 2018 | 8,092 |
| 2019 | 8,209 |
| 2020 | 6,169 |
| 2021 | 6,777 |
| 2022 | 7,249 |
| 2023 | 7,566 |
| 2024 | 7,652 |
| 2025 | 7,744 |
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 (84.0% 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.
A659 collisions
Police recorded 70 collisions with the A659 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 22 of them fatal or serious. That is 23.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.6 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 58.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 9 |
| 2024 | 12 |
| 2025 | 19 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A658 to A6083 Bradford Road Leeds · 18 collisions | 32.6 |
| A659 High St to A1(T) North Yorkshire, Leeds · 11 collisions | 29.5 |
| A61 to A658 Leeds · 15 collisions | 27.9 |
| A58 to A61 Leeds · 14 collisions | 20.9 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 17 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A659 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 A659
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- North Yorkshire
- 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 | 70 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.