World's most dangerous road

[Sasaki Kojiro]

The road is located in the South American country of Bolivia. It consists of 43 miles of dirt and rock heading north from La Paz, the world's highest capitol (altitude 12,000 feet), to Coroico, a beautiful cloud forest town at the rim of the Amazon basin. It's the only road that exists to get to the Amazon from La Paz. It can have vertical drops for 1,600 feet and has no guardrails. Consequently, most Bolivians take the time to pray before their descent.



An average of 26 vehicles fall off the road per year. About 200 people annually lose their lives here. A fatal accident every fortnight is not uncommon on the Coroico road (the July disaster brought the death toll during the previous eight months to 55 and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank declared this, the world's most dangerous road.









Road trip, anyone?

[Motep]

yaeh..definitely not traveling by that route...

[DukeofSerbia]

Gah. We have still similar roads in Serbia in some mountainous areas (not so extreme), unfortunately...

[Crazed Rabbit]

Gah. The only vehicle I'd get in on that would be a Kawasaki 650 dual sport, and stay right next to the cliff the whole time.

Those truck drivers must have nerves of steel.

CR

[professorspatula]

That's some nasty road. To think I complain bitterly whenever a lorry forces me into the side of the road and onto the muddy verge down the narrow country roads by my town, but that's nothing compared to that.

On a more positive note, local vehicle scrap merchants are allegedly amongst the largest and busiest in all of South America.

[Csargo]

Let's go Sasaki I'm game.

[Samurai Waki]

I watched a little documentary on this road on the Travel Channel a little bit ago. Dreadful, narrow thing, anyone going downhill has the right of way, so if two vehicles meet, the vehicle going up has to stop and lose momentum, generally having to back up in the process. If theres more than one vehicle behind it, then they all have to back up. Plus the switch backs and blind corners are horrendous.

[Motep]

this road definitely is not for the faint of heart....teriible if you are afraid of heights.

[Orb]

[Edit: Don't quote post with lots of images in please, it clogs up the thread-BKS]



Haven't been to Naples?

The roads themselves might be quite safe. The other drivers, however, aren't.

[Oaty]

I watched a little documentary on this road on the Travel Channel a little bit ago. Dreadful, narrow thing, anyone going downhill has the right of way, so if two vehicles meet, the vehicle going up has to stop and lose momentum, generally having to back up in the process.

They had a documetary of it on the history channel, possibly the same one that was on the travel channel.

I thought it was the vehicle going up that had the right of way due to the one going up would lose its momentum, either way driving on that road must be a nightmare

[Zalmoxis]

I'd rather walk.

[BigTex]

I would love to see a 1/4 mile drag on that road. Now that would be entertaining.

[Rodion Romanovich]

Would be nice to go there with a monstertruck

[spmetla]

GAH! I'd only drive on that road with a moterbike. No way would I drive something with four wheels there. Finding a pullover for oncoming traffic looks insane.

[Kääpäkorven Konsuli]

It is two-way road?!

[Csargo]

I'd rather walk.

I'de avoid it completely.

[Cataphract_Of_The_City]

They should hold a WRC special stage there. The whole 43 miles. That would be awesome!

[GoreBag]

Something to see when the time comes.

[Avicenna]

What about Tibet?

There's also a very dangerous road in Luxembourg, according to Bill Bryson, the country in Europe with the highest car accident fatality rate...

It's got 3 lanes. A highway. One goes east, one goes west. The one in the middle can be cut into by both the other lanes.

[Ronin]

What about Tibet?

There's also a very dangerous road in Luxembourg, according to Bill Bryson, the country in Europe with the highest car accident fatality rate...

It's got 3 lanes. A highway. One goes east, one goes west. The one in the middle can be cut into by both the other lanes.

actually my Portugal used to hold the errr.."honour" of having the highest fatality numbers for auto accidents in europe....fortunatelly in the last few years the numbers have gone down....but people still drive like they are crazy over here.

[naut]

Gah!

That is one perilous road.

[MSB]

Look on the bright side. It's got a lovley view for you to look at before you meet your maker!

[macsen rufus]

Waaaaghhh!!!!

Definitely don't look down.... I once took the trip down from Quito to the pacific coast, and thought that road was pretty hairy, but this takes the biscuit! Most of it was proper two-lane highway with white lines and everything, with even a few stretches of railing (with gaps missing). Shrines and crosses every couple of miles, hairpins every so often. I'm not saying the drivers are erratic, but it was a good few miles before I was sure which side of the road the Ecuadoreans were supposedly driving on

Being a major route there were quite a few trucks, and apparently the downhillers would turn off their engines and freewheel to save fuel, steering as lazily as possible to keep it smooth. The only concession to safety was the constant blasting of air horns. That most of these trucks were fuel tankers didn't help Still, the views were amazing...

It's reassuring to see things are even more extreme in Bolivia

[Dâriûsh]

There is also a very dangerous mountain road in Pakistan. I can’t recall its name, but there are many wrecks lying along it. The local authorities have left them to serve as a warning.

[dacdac]

the one in the Florida Keys, but i forgot the name at the moment. Goes from Key West to Miami. Has the death toll for the year at the beginning and end.

[Tribesman]

I'd rather walk.

Those were my thoughts after I got a lift in the car on Lundy Island , as it went up the road the rocks that were the road were falling down the cliff .
I politely declined the offer of a lift back to the boat (well not very politely language wise) .
About two weeks later the whole first two sections of road went into the sea .