OT - And we think flying is dangerous.

[tranquillo 10]

This is Stemnaya Road in Bolivia, Nicknamed "Road of Death". Give me a plane any day .

 

[JFM 18]

I don't think flying is dangerous. It's just less forgiving of error than many other endeavors.

 

As regards that road, I wouldn't want to be in Bolivia on any road.

[Hasse Wind 46]

That looks deadly. And they have trucks using the road... crazy.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Ive seen this before...but every time I see it again, it makes my palms sweat!!

[tranquillo 10]

The last picture reminded me of my bus journey to Srinigar in Kashmir. There'd been a storm the night before and in places half the road had been washed away and passing anything was a real nightmare with a 1000ft drop to wake you up.

[Lewie 7]

Think of what happens in Bolivia on roads like that, when 2 trucks meet, going in opposite directions, and the drivers of both trucks carry a pistol ?

 

Well thinking about it a little deeper, I would say they carry pistols for reasons other than the other truck drivers. Why would they shoot each other it just leaves one or more of the trucks driverless and stuck on the road, blocking traffic. Just because this isn't in the US does it mean that it's complete lawlessness.

 

BTW I know a couple of guys who have traveled that road on motorcycles and it has some gorgeous scenery. And they felt pretty safe despite the danger, comparatively.

[Bullethead 12]

The good thing about this road is that it's fairly busy so if you do go over the edge,odds are somebody will see it happen call for help. At least once/if they themselves successfully negotiate however far it is to the nearest land line or cell tower (say several hours on average) .

 

This is in rather stark contrast to where I live. Our topography, while spectactular by Lousy Anna standards (which is pretty much flat), is miniscule compared to these cliffs. However, you're not much more likely to walk away from a drop of 30-50 feet than from off this road. We've got beaucoup such drops and at most of them, the car would be totally swallowed by the jungle and never seen again. Thus, if nobody sees it happen (which is rather likely even on our major highways), you'll die down there eventually.

 

About once a year, somebody stumbles across a missing vehicle and driver along the side of one of our main roads. The most recent was a motorcyclist who'd been missing for 1.5 years. He was only found because they were widening the highway from 2 to 5 lanes and he was down in a hollow on the outside of a curve where the new lanes were going to be built. The sad part is, he was only about 50m away from the gas station / convenience store on the edge of town. I hope he was killed outright..... Gawd knows how many such things await discovery along our back roads.

[Flyby PC 23]

Of course, a tourist stopping in the middle of the road to take a photo adds another layer of danger too.

 

From a little experience driving in China, all you need for a traffic jam are two lorry drivers. The concept of right of way, or waiting for someone else to go first, just doesn't exist. That's not being cheeky, it's true. Even on a slip lane, traffic will not wait for a gap, out they come in front of you and you'd better hope your brakes work. What starts with two lorries meeting face to face quickly turns into 8 lorries face to face, with no room for anything to get past, and no room for anyone to reverse. Nobody will move until the cops turn up and start to issue fines. A traffic jam can last a day or two, but I think the record is 11 days, with hundreds of vehicles. Anybody who knows China will know I'm not kidding. They are quite, quite mad. (mad as in daft, not angry). I wasn't sure whether they physically didn't know how to reverse their vehicles, they weren't exactly brilliant going forwards, (and nearly all lorries looked 50 ton jobs had massive 30 ton trailers too), or whether it was just a battle of nerves as to who should be first to crack and move their vehicle to let somebody else get passed. No doubt a little of both. No road rage anywhere, just good natured, well mannered insanity. Quite surreal really.

 

Funny when you're a tourist on a motorbike.

 

 

Edit - not my pic, but yup, that's China for you.... Yeah, that'll be fine, just needs a little bit more on the front....

Edited March 20, 2011 by Flyby PC

[Bullethead 12]

No road rage anywhere, just good natured, well mannered insanity. Quite surreal really.

 

Wow. I have trouble picturing that. In my experience, insane driving goes along with anger and violence. I'll have to go to China someday :).

 

Of the places I've been, I rank Saudis as the worst drivers--I shudder to think what it would be like if they let women drive there, too . The roads are dead straight and perfectly flat for hundreds of miles, and you can easily drive in the hard-packed sand to either side in most places. Despite this, the Saudis have a huge number of wrecks, mostly quite violent due to the high speeds. And they just bulldoze the wreckage off to the side and leave it there, so every quarter mile or so along the road you see a mangled vehicle or 2. Most of them look like they weren't cut open with the Jaws of Life, so I assume the bodies are still in them..... Or least that's how it was 20 years ago, last time I was there.

[Burning Beard 14]

I think the rule of the road in Korea when I was there was "Right of Weight".

 

Beard

[Bullethead 12]

I think the rule of the road in Korea when I was there was "Right of Weight".

 

In Lousy Anna, that's known as the "Lug Nut Factor". He who has the most lug nuts can go ahead :).