Serious M5 crash in South Gloucestershire on 21 July 1979 at 12:35 involving a motorcycle
A motorcycle and a car were involved in a crash on the M5 in South Gloucestershire at 12:35 on Saturday 21 July 1979. The 18-year-old male rider of the motorcycle was seriously injured.
It happened in daylight in fine weather on a dry dual carriageway with a 70 mph limit, away from any junction.
- Severity
- Serious
- Date
- 21 Jul 1979
- Saturday, 12:35
- Vehicles
- 2
- Motorcycle and car
- Casualties
- 1
- 1 seriously injured
Location of the crash
Police recorded the crash at latitude 51.51078, longitude -2.65703, in the BS10 postcode district.
Map of where the crash happened in South Gloucestershire
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- 1 crash
- Serious
Collision details
Basic information
- Reference
- 197952EFT1065
- Council area
- South Gloucestershire
- Police force
- Avon and Somerset
Road and location details
- First road class
- Motorway
- First road number
- 5
- Road type
- Dual carriageway
- Speed limit
- 70 mph
Junction information
- Junction type
- Not at junction or within 20 metres
Pedestrian crossing information
- Crossing facilities
- No physical crossing facility within 50 m
Environmental conditions
- Light conditions
- Daylight
- Weather
- Fine, no high winds
- Road surface
- Dry
The 6 nearest recorded crashes
The nearest, at the same spot, was a serious injury crash on 26 September 1981.
Serious
Car crash on the M5 in South Gloucestershire, 26 September 1981
At the same spotRef 198152DFI1479
Slight
Vauxhall Astra crash on the M5 in Bristol, 1 September 2001
41 m awayRef 2001520117242
Slight
Peugeot 106 crash on the M5 in Bristol, 17 November 2000
50 m awayRef 2000520146498
Slight
BMW 3 Series crash on the M5 in Bristol, 26 July 2018
50 m awayRef 2018521808622
Slight
Ford Escort crash on the M5 in Bristol, 31 August 2001
58 m awayRef 2001520117064
Slight
Tesla Model 3 crash on the M5 in Bristol, 30 December 2021
69 m awayRef 2021522201077
Vehicles involved (2)
Vehicle 1: Motorcycle
- Manoeuvre
- Going ahead
- Travelling from
- South
- Travelling to
- North
- Skidding and overturning
- Skidded
- First point of impact
- Front
- Driver sex
- Male
- Driver age
- 18 years
Vehicle 2: Car
- Manoeuvre
- Waiting to go ahead
- Travelling from
- South
- Travelling to
- North
- First point of impact
- Back
- Driver sex
- Male
- Driver age
- 48 years
Casualties (1)
Casualty 1: Rider
SeriousMale, aged 18, motorcyclist, on vehicle 1 (Motorcycle)
Data source
This record comes from the Department for Transport’s road safety data (STATS19), in which police forces in Great Britain record every road crash reported to them where someone was injured. It is reference 197952EFT1065 in the data published on GOV.UK under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and one of the crashes counted in the South Gloucestershire road accident statistics for 1979.