National Highways Officers Handled 90,916 Network Incidents, Up 22 Percent in a Year

• National Highways traffic officers dealt with 90,916 incidents on its network in 2025-26, up from 74,734 the year before, an increase of 16,182 or about 22%.
• Average attendance on all lane running motorways with emergency areas more than a mile apart was 8 minutes 28 seconds against a 10 minute target, and 89.3% of motorway incidents were cleared within an hour against an 86% target.
• The company met nine of its eleven targets and missed two, while its report records 6,673 first-stage complaints and 128 escalated to stage 2.

National Highways Handled 16,182 More Incidents in a Year and Still Beat Its Response Targets

National Highways, the government-owned company that runs motorways and major A roads in England, has published its annual report and accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2026. Page 35 records that its traffic officers dealt with 90,916 “incidents causing an obstruction, congestion or threatening the safety of our network”. The year before the figure was 74,734. That is 16,182 more incidents, a rise of about 22%.

The report does not break the 90,916 down by type, so it does not say how many were breakdowns, collisions, debris or stopped vehicles. What it does show is how the company performed against its own targets for reaching and clearing them, how drivers rated the network, and where it fell short. This article goes through those figures.

How Quickly Officers Reached Drivers

On attendance, the report gives an average traffic officer arrival time of 8 minutes 28 seconds against a target of 10 minutes. The measure covers all lane running motorways where emergency areas are more than one mile apart, which is the stretch of the network where a stopped vehicle has the fewest places to pull in. The target was met.

On clearance, 89.3% of motorway incidents were cleared within one hour, against a target of 86%. That target was also met. The report gives a second figure of 89.3% for roadside technology, which was operational for that share of the time. No target is given for the technology measure, so the two matching numbers are a coincidence of the data rather than one result reported twice.

Behind those figures sits a maintenance workload. The report says 23,339 defects were repaired within 24 hours of identification, and that around 500 assets were renewed on all lane running motorways, including cameras, signals, message signs and the MIDAS traffic detection loops. Road surface was rated in good condition on 96.3% of the network against a target of 96.2%, and 1,074.7 lane miles of asphalt surfacing were delivered. The company also renewed 249.2 miles of road safety barriers and mitigated 52 flooding hotspots.

Delays and availability were also inside their limits. Average delay was 10.9 seconds per vehicle mile against an ambition of no more than 11.8, and the network was available 97.5% of the time against a 97.5% target.

Planned roadworks belong in this account too. On the M1 between junctions 20 and 23 and the M69 between junctions 2 and 3, variable message signs were upgraded using overnight lane closures between 8pm and 6am, with one or two lanes kept open on the M1 at all times. A single overnight full closure of the M69 northbound link to the M1 northbound was needed, with traffic diverted along a route of about one mile. Closures like these are where the 76.1% accuracy figure for advance information applies: it measures how often the details published seven days ahead turned out to be right.

What Drivers Said and Where They Complained

The company’s survey of road users, a 12 month rolling measure, recorded 71.1% satisfaction from 9,481 responses. The target was 69.6%, and the previous year’s result was 68.6% from 9,380 responses. Information about full road closures was 76.1% accurate seven days in advance, against a 75% target, and roadworks audits carried out while schemes were live averaged 94%, with an in-month high of 95%.

Complaints are reported in four stages. At stage 1 the company received 6,673 complaints and resolved 6,545. At stage 2 it received 128 and resolved 94. At stage 3 it received 34 and resolved 26, and at stage 4 it received 1 and resolved 1. Stage 1 complaints fell by 0.6% on the year and stage 2 escalations fell by 0.3%. Customer contact resolved by the wider business scored 94.4% against a 93% target, compared with 93.7% in 2024-25.

Put against 90,916 incidents, 6,673 first-stage complaints is a small share, though the report does not say how many complaints relate to incidents as opposed to roadworks, signage or other causes. The report also records that more than £15 million in grants and more than £30 million of investment went into lorry parking over two years, with 500 new spaces and welfare, safety or security improvements at 135 sites.

The Targets National Highways Missed

The company met nine of its eleven targets. The two it missed both affect ordinary drivers and the wider public. The first is safety. The report states that 1,931 people were killed or seriously injured on its network in 2024, a 38% reduction against the 2005-09 baseline of 3,100 but short of the 50% reduction target. The 2024 monitoring point was 1,612, so the network finished 319 above it. We covered the regulator’s assessment of that shortfall in Motorway Deaths Rise to 1,931 as National Highways Set to Miss Safety Target.

The second miss is corporate carbon, where the company recorded a 73% reduction against a 75% target. That figure concerns the company’s own emissions rather than the traffic on its roads.

On money, the report gives capital spending of £3,287 million against funding of £3,282 million, a £5 million overrun. Operational spending was £1,468 million against funding of £1,475 million, a £7 million underspend.

The report adds two further safety measures. The killed or seriously injured rate was 1.99 per hundred million vehicle miles, and the December 2025 target was exceeded by 381 casualties. Those numbers describe the 2024 calendar year, so they sit alongside the 2025-26 incident count rather than explaining it.

The report also records community and driver welfare spending. Twelve lorry parking sites gained more than 200 spaces each in 2025-26, and a community legacy fund approved 37 applications, awarding nearly £295,000. Neither changes the response times above, but both show where part of the budget went.

What the Figures Mean If You Drive the Network

For a driver who breaks down on a motorway, the figure that applies is the 8 minutes 28 seconds average attendance, with the caveat that it is an average across all lane running motorways with emergency areas more than a mile apart. It is not a promise for any single incident. The 89.3% clearance rate within an hour is likewise a share of incidents, which leaves about one in ten taking longer.

The report also describes safety work aimed at drivers. A “safe T.R.I.P checks” campaign ran alongside Operation Tramline, which targets unsafe driving, and national behaviour change campaigns covered vehicle checks, fatigue, close following, motorcycle safety and driving around HGVs. More than £20.47 million was invested in safety schemes in the interim year. On the A38 at Carkeel, the speed limit was cut from 50mph to 30mph, with average and spot speed cameras added.

Road condition is the other practical link. The 96.3% good surface rating covers the roads National Highways runs, not local council roads, where damage claims are a separate story. Our report on council rejection rates is here: Nearly Half of UK Councils Refuse Nine in Ten Pothole Claims From Drivers.

The next numbers to look for are the company’s incident count for 2026-27 and the safety figures for 2025, which will show whether the rise to 90,916 incidents reflects busier roads, better detection or both. The report does not say which.

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Sources:

• National Highways: Annual report and accounts 2026