A-road

A689 traffic and collisions

The A689 is an A-road of 92.2 miles, from Hartlepool to Cumberland. This page covers its traffic at 19 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
19 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 325m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 9,644 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 32,218 A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T)
  • HGV share 5.2% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +5.7% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 269 17.6 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A689?

On an average day in 2025, 9,644 vehicles passed each point on the A689, counting both directions. The busiest section is A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T) (Stockton-on-Tees), with 32,218 a day; the quietest listed is A686 to Council boundary, with 471.

Busiest sections, 2025

A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T) carries 3.3 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A689 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T) Stockton-on-Tees · 0.7 mi · HGVs 7.9% 32,218
Near Hartlepool Rail Station to A689 Wolviston Roundabout Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees · 6.3 mi · HGVs 4.0% 30,886
At A177 Durham · 1.1 mi · HGVs 5.9% 24,335
A177 to A1(M) Durham · 2.1 mi · HGVs 5.3% 22,774
A596 to M6 Cumberland · 5.9 mi · HGVs 6.0% 21,969
A1(M) to A167 Durham · 2.2 mi · HGVs 4.3% 21,520
A19 to A177 Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, Durham · 6.5 mi · HGVs 8.0% 20,336
Roundabout connecting A689 South Church Road and A688 to Crook, County Durham Durham · 6.3 mi · HGVs 1.4% 14,644
A167 to A688 Durham · 3.7 mi · HGVs 3.9% 12,961
A69 to M6 J44 Cumberland · 8.6 mi · HGVs 6.7% 12,549

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Hartlepool to Cumberland · 92.2 miles

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

A689 traffic and collisions by section

15 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 A689 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1Near Hartlepool Rail Station to A689 Wolviston RoundaboutHartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees6.330,8864.0%9233.7
2A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T)Stockton-on-Tees0.732,2187.9%+0.8%1435.5
3A19 to A177Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, Durham6.520,3368.0%−7.9%187.8
4At A177Durham1.124,3355.9%−9.7%fewer than 3
5A177 to A1(M)Durham2.122,7745.3%−3.7%4
6A1(M) to A167Durham2.221,5204.3%+21.5%1315.7
7A167 to A688Durham3.712,9613.9%+12.1%1923.3
8Roundabout connecting A689 South Church Road and A688 to Crook, County DurhamDurham6.314,6441.4%+13.7%2213.6
9A68 to A690Durham1.73,6262.9%−5.7%3
10A690 to Roundabout where A689 and A68 meet (near Cloc Knot Belt Plantation)Durham23.74714.2%−22.3%25118.5
11A686 to Council boundaryWestmorland and Furness5.94714.2%−22.3%fewer than 3
12Council boundary to A686Westmorland and Furness1.71,0164.2%−4.3%fewer than 3
13A686 to A69Northumberland, Cumberland15.81,1583.6%+10.0%4
14A69 to M6 J44Cumberland8.612,5496.7%3221.2
15A596 to M6Cumberland5.921,9696.0%+24.6%167.4

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A689 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.

A689 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 75.7% of the vehicle miles on the A689. HGVs account for 5.2%, rising to 8.0% on A19 to A177.

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 A689, by year
Year HGV share
2000 8.9%
2001 8.7%
2002 7.7%
2003 7.8%
2004 7.3%
2005 7.1%
2006 6.7%
2007 7.0%
2008 7.1%
2009 6.3%
2010 6.6%
2011 6.5%
2012 6.6%
2013 6.8%
2014 6.7%
2015 6.8%
2016 6.8%
2017 6.6%
2018 6.7%
2019 6.5%
2020 7.4%
2021 6.7%
2022 6.0%
2023 5.4%
2024 5.3%
2025 5.2%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A689 traffic trend

Traffic on the A689 came to 325 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 5.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and about the same as in 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 37.6% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A689 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 214m
2001 218m
2002 227m
2003 232m
2004 240m
2005 238m
2006 251m
2007 245m
2008 249m
2009 248m
2010 238m
2011 246m
2012 277m
2013 272m
2014 277m
2015 284m
2016 283m
2017 294m
2018 308m
2019 301m
2020 233m
2021 271m
2022 299m
2023 315m
2024 318m
2025 325m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A689, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 6,849
2001 7,001
2002 7,279
2003 7,445
2004 7,683
2005 7,722
2006 8,121
2007 7,939
2008 8,063
2009 8,043
2010 7,727
2011 7,982
2012 8,451
2013 8,273
2014 8,432
2015 8,652
2016 8,636
2017 8,959
2018 9,274
2019 8,973
2020 6,939
2021 8,082
2022 8,870
2023 9,344
2024 9,457
2025 9,644

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 (84.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 6 of the 19 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A689 collisions

Police recorded 269 collisions with the A689 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 103 of them fatal or serious. That is 17.6 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

Down 32.1% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A689 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 3719
2022 3426
2023 3724
2024 3024
2025 2711

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 A689, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A690 to Roundabout where A689 and A68 meet (near Cloc Knot Belt Plantation) Durham · 25 collisions 118.5
A689 Wolviston Roundabout to A19(T) Stockton-on-Tees · 14 collisions 35.5
Near Hartlepool Rail Station to A689 Wolviston Roundabout Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees · 92 collisions 33.7
A167 to A688 Durham · 19 collisions 23.3
A69 to M6 J44 Cumberland · 32 collisions 21.2
A1(M) to A167 Durham · 13 collisions 15.7
Roundabout connecting A689 South Church Road and A688 to Crook, County Durham Durham · 22 collisions 13.6
A19 to A177 Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, Durham · 18 collisions 7.8

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

A further 26 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A689 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 A689

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

  • Hartlepool
  • Stockton-on-Tees
  • Durham
  • Westmorland and Furness
  • Northumberland
  • Cumberland

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 19 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 269 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.