December 28, 2006
The Most Dangerous Roads in the World
From Thrilling Wonder:
2. Bolivia's "Road of Death"
North Yungas Road is hands-down the most dangerous in the world for motorists. If the previous road is just impassable, this one clearly endangers your life. It runs in the Bolivian Andes, 70 km from La Paz to Coroico, and plunges down almost 3,600 meters in an orgy of extremely narrow hairpin curves and 800-meter abyss near-misses. A fatal accident happens there every couple of weeks, 100-200 people perish there every year. In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank named the La Paz-to-Coroico route "the world's most dangerous road."
5. Most Dangerous Tourist Hiking Trail (China)
Not a car road, but the most hair-raising experience you can have on your own two legs. This is a heavy-tourist traffic area in Xian (Mt.Huashan); this link explains more about the area:
More here.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 01:00 PM | Permalink
Comments
I've been on the road of death, uphill, in the shotgun seat. What these pictures don't show is that every few hundred yards or so, you get a little cross or monument saying "Jesus te amo."
I didn't go on this road for kicks, I'd just hiked down the mountain 13k feet (they make you climb a k or so every time you cross the river), and this is the only way up. Nor did I ask for the shotgun seat; the Bolivians are,when pressed, a pushy people, and with good reason: the non-pushy get shunted to the shotgun seat.
Anyway, within ten minutes of our departure, it started to rain. Mists from the rainforests below occasionally drift across the windshield, and various new waterfalls pour across the road.
Nobody wears seatbelts. I was indignant for a moment, but then realized their irrelevance.
Bolivians are, when the occasion merits, a religious people. The primary safety device employed during our journey was our driver's habit of crossing himself before each sharp turn.
Look at the pictures posted here, or those posted a couple weeks ago of the same road. The danger in them is not wholly inherent: it lies in the fact that these roads are two-way. One could say : "6-12 is down, and 12-6 is up" Why they do not do this, I cannot say.
Posted by: foolishmortal | Dec 29, 2006 4:57:50 AM
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