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CrashStats

Serious M5 crash in Somerset on 12 July 1987 at 04:05 involving a car

A car crashed on the M5 in Somerset at 04:05 on Sunday 12 July 1987. The 23-year-old male driver was seriously injured.

It happened after dark with no street lighting in fine weather on a dry dual carriageway with a 70 mph limit, away from any junction.

Severity
Serious
Date
12 Jul 1987
Sunday, 04:05
Vehicles
1
Car
Casualties
1
1 seriously injured

Location of the crash

Police recorded the crash at latitude 50.97511, longitude -3.15793, in the TA3 postcode district. The location was in the former Somerset West and Taunton district.

Map of where the crash happened in Somerset

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  • 1 crash
  • Serious

Collision details

Basic information

Reference
198752GO01027
Council area
Somerset
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
Dark, no street lighting
Weather
Fine, no high winds
Road surface
Dry

The 6 nearest recorded crashes

The nearest, 6 metres away, was a slight injury crash on 30 May 2025.

Vehicles involved (1)

  • Vehicle 1: Car

    Manoeuvre
    Going ahead
    Travelling from
    West
    Travelling to
    East
    Lane or location
    Not on carriageway
    Skidding and overturning
    Skidded and overturned
    Leaving the carriageway
    Nearside
    Hit object off carriageway
    Entered ditch
    First point of impact
    Front
    Driver sex
    Male
    Driver age
    23 years

Casualties (1)

  • Casualty 1: Driver

    Serious

    Male, aged 23, car occupant, in vehicle 1 (Car)

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 198752GO01027 in the data published on GOV.UK under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and one of the crashes counted in the Somerset road accident statistics for 1987.