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M42 traffic at 18:57 on Sunday 18 October: no major incidents reported — live National Highways updates every 5 minutes, 24/7.
Tap a pin for full incident detail. Live positions from National Highways.
🟢 Clear · 🟡 Delays nearby · 🔴 Severe/Crash · Status labels: 💥 CRASH · ❌ CLOSED · 🐌 SLOW · 🚧 WORKS · ⚠️ HAZARD
A red or orange junction border marks a STATS19 collision blackspot. Tap any junction for its own page — live incidents and full collision history. Tap the funnel to filter the list above.
The M42 carries up to 136,724 vehicles a day at its busiest stretch (J4–J5), including 14,082 HGVs — the 12th busiest motorway in Britain. Official Department for Transport counts, 2025.
| Road | Busiest stretch | Vehicles/day | HGVs/day | HGV share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M25 | near J14 | 212,636 | 14,853 | 7% |
| M6 | J20–J21 | 187,521 | 23,492 | 12.5% |
| M56 | J3–J4 | 179,634 | 7,547 | 4.2% |
| M1 | near J9 | 162,446 | 19,151 | 11.8% |
| M8 | J16–J17 | 158,065 | 7,214 | 4.6% |
| M4 | near J4 | 156,491 | 6,249 | 4% |
| M42 ◀ | J4–J5 | 136,724 | 14,082 | 10.3% |
Measured from 69 incidents recorded on the M42 since February 2026: the riskiest window is 13:00–16:00, when 36% of incidents start. Right now (18:00) you're outside the peak window.
| Hour | Incidents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00–01:00 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 01:00–02:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 02:00–03:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 03:00–04:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 04:00–05:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 05:00–06:00 | 3 | 4.3% |
| 06:00–07:00 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 07:00–08:00 | 3 | 4.3% |
| 08:00–09:00 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 09:00–10:00 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 10:00–11:00 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 11:00–12:00 | 3 | 4.3% |
| 12:00–13:00 | 9 | 13% |
| 13:00–14:00 ◀ peak | 7 | 10.1% |
| 14:00–15:00 ◀ peak | 8 | 11.6% |
| 15:00–16:00 ◀ peak | 10 | 14.5% |
| 16:00–17:00 | 4 | 5.8% |
| 17:00–18:00 | 3 | 4.3% |
| 18:00–19:00 | 0 | 0% |
| 19:00–20:00 | 0 | 0% |
| 20:00–21:00 | 3 | 4.3% |
| 21:00–22:00 | 0 | 0% |
| 22:00–23:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 23:00–00:00 | 1 | 1.4% |
The places people drive to most, the M42 junction for each, and live M42 incidents nearby at 18:57.
13.66 million passengers in 2025; reached via M42 J6 and the A45 (from the M6, leave at J4A onto the M42)
Exhibition centre by M42 J6 with 16,500 parking spaces and shuttle buses
Around 700,000 visitors a year; £4 parking per vehicle
Test cricket ground with about 25,000 seats; main entrance on Edgbaston Road
Based on DfT STATS19 police collision records. The M42 has 303 recorded collisions at 12 collision hotspots, involving 490 casualties (5 fatal). Take extra care here. Ranked by fatal, then serious collisions, then casualties - not by the number of collisions alone.
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Any M42 closure appears in the live feed above within minutes of National Highways reporting it, including tonight's overnight roadworks closures.
The live feed above shows every incident, delay, roadwork and overnight closure on the M42, updated every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, from National Highways.
The M42 is typically busiest during morning rush hour (07:00–09:30) and evening rush hour (16:30–19:30) on weekdays.
Roadworks and overnight closures on the M42 are listed above and at /traffic/m42/roadworks/, taken from the National Highways daily closure report.
The M42 connects to: M5, M40, M6, M6 Toll.
Each side has its own live page: the M42 northbound (towards Tamworth) and the M42 southbound (towards Bromsgrove) each list every accident, breakdown, closure and roadworks on that carriageway, updated every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, from National Highways. The panel at the top of this page shows both sides at a glance.
Official Department for Transport counts (2025) record 136,724 vehicles a day on the M42's busiest stretch (J4–J5), 14,082 of them HGVs. The full breakdown and comparison chart are in the traffic statistics section above.
The M42 has the 12th busiest motorway stretch in Britain at 136,724 vehicles a day (DfT 2025), behind the M25's 212,636 a day at the top.
Measured from 69 incidents recorded on the M42 since February 2026, the riskiest window is 13:00–16:00, when 36% of incidents start. The quietest is 21:00–00:00. Incidents on the M42 typically clear in about 39 minutes.
Birmingham Airport is reached from M42 junction 6 via the A45, with the NEC and Birmingham International station on the same junction.
Daily M42 incidents, posted across all four channels.
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Broken down on the M42? Pick the nearest town and call a local firm direct:
On a motorway? If you can, get onto the hard shoulder or into an emergency area, leave by the left-hand doors and wait behind the barrier. Stuck in a live lane: stay in the car with your seatbelt on and hazard lights on, and call 999.