A-road
A678 traffic and collisions
The A678 is an A-road of 7.7 miles, from Lancashire to Blackburn with Darwen. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 27m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 9,631 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 15,878 A680 to A6185
- HGV share 2.9% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −11.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 76 58.4 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A678?
On an average day in 2025, 9,631 vehicles passed each point on the A678, counting both directions. The busiest section is A680 to A6185 (Lancashire), with 15,878 a day; the quietest listed is A6068 to Higher Firs Drive, Clayton-le-Moors, with 5,027.
Busiest sections, 2025
A680 to A6185 carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A680 to A6185 Lancashire · 0.5 mi · HGVs 5.1% | 15,878 |
| A6119 Blackburn with Darwen · 0.7 mi · HGVs 3.1% | 13,265 |
| A6185 to Holt St, Rishton Lancashire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 10,312 |
| M65/A119 to Woodside Ave, Rishton Lancashire · 1.0 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 9,468 |
| Higher Firs Drive roundabout to A680 Lancashire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 5,580 |
| A671 to A6068 Lancashire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 5,512 |
| A6068 to Higher Firs Drive, Clayton-le-Moors Lancashire · 2.2 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 5,027 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Lancashire to Blackburn with Darwen · 7.7 miles
A678 traffic and collisions by section
11 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 | A671 to A6068Lancashire | 5,512 | 3 |
| 2 | A6068 to Higher Firs Drive, Clayton-le-MoorsLancashire | 5,027 | 8 |
| 3 | Higher Firs Drive roundabout to A680Lancashire | 5,580 | 4 |
| 4 | A680 to A6185Lancashire | 15,878 | fewer than 3 |
| 5 | A6185 to Holt St, RishtonLancashire | 10,312 | 3 |
| 6 | Holt St to B6535Lancashire | 10,931 | 15 |
| 7 | B6535 to Woodside AvenueLancashire | 10,405 | fewer than 3 |
| 8 | M65/A119 to Woodside Ave, RishtonLancashire | 9,468 | 11 |
| 9 | M65 to A6119Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen | 18,429 | 4 |
| 10 | A6119Blackburn with Darwen | 13,265 | 5 |
| 11 | Count point 92053Blackburn with Darwen | 23,762 | 19 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A678 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.
A678 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.9% of the vehicle miles on the A678. HGVs account for 2.9%, rising to 5.3% on A6068 to Higher Firs Drive, Clayton-le-Moors.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.2% |
| 2001 | 4.4% |
| 2002 | 4.7% |
| 2003 | 5.1% |
| 2004 | 5.5% |
| 2005 | 5.9% |
| 2006 | 5.4% |
| 2007 | 5.5% |
| 2008 | 5.5% |
| 2009 | 4.0% |
| 2010 | 4.3% |
| 2011 | 4.0% |
| 2012 | 4.0% |
| 2013 | 3.6% |
| 2014 | 3.4% |
| 2015 | 3.1% |
| 2016 | 3.2% |
| 2017 | 3.3% |
| 2018 | 3.3% |
| 2019 | 3.2% |
| 2020 | 3.9% |
| 2021 | 3.5% |
| 2022 | 3.1% |
| 2023 | 3.0% |
| 2024 | 3.0% |
| 2025 | 2.9% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A678 traffic trend
Traffic on the A678 came to 27.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 11.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 9.0% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 12.0% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 24m |
| 2001 | 25m |
| 2002 | 26m |
| 2003 | 25m |
| 2004 | 25m |
| 2005 | 25m |
| 2006 | 29m |
| 2007 | 29m |
| 2008 | 28m |
| 2009 | 28m |
| 2010 | 28m |
| 2011 | 29m |
| 2012 | 29m |
| 2013 | 29m |
| 2014 | 30m |
| 2015 | 29m |
| 2016 | 29m |
| 2017 | 28m |
| 2018 | 28m |
| 2019 | 29m |
| 2020 | 22m |
| 2021 | 24m |
| 2022 | 26m |
| 2023 | 27m |
| 2024 | 27m |
| 2025 | 27m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9,648 |
| 2001 | 9,798 |
| 2002 | 10,134 |
| 2003 | 9,984 |
| 2004 | 10,090 |
| 2005 | 9,915 |
| 2006 | 10,649 |
| 2007 | 10,571 |
| 2008 | 10,307 |
| 2009 | 10,496 |
| 2010 | 10,288 |
| 2011 | 10,704 |
| 2012 | 10,571 |
| 2013 | 10,567 |
| 2014 | 10,956 |
| 2015 | 10,791 |
| 2016 | 10,542 |
| 2017 | 10,230 |
| 2018 | 10,220 |
| 2019 | 10,289 |
| 2020 | 7,775 |
| 2021 | 8,490 |
| 2022 | 9,242 |
| 2023 | 9,424 |
| 2024 | 9,549 |
| 2025 | 9,631 |
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 (85.7% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 0 of the 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A678 collisions
Police recorded 76 collisions with the A678 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, fewer than 3 of them fatal or serious. That is 58.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.0 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 6.3% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 |
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 18 |
| 2025 | 17 |
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 |
|---|---|
| M65/A119 to Woodside Ave, Rishton Lancashire · 11 collisions | 66.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 29 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A678 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 A678
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Lancashire
- Blackburn with Darwen
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 | 12 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 76 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.