Dangerous roads claim the lives of many people every year. It makes you
wonder, what is it about the most beautiful, remote, and deadly places
on earth that make people from every race and culture go, “We can travel
there. Frequently. Let’s build a road!” It seems like some of the most
dangerous places on earth are also some of the most beautiful. Yet
sometimes, these deadly roads are just boring highways a few miles away
that are deadly due to frequent human error. However they got their
reputation, here are some of the most dangerous roads on earth.
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Paso de los Libertadores - Chile
There are over 40 border crossings between Chile and Argentina in the
Andes mountains, and Paso de los Libertadores is arguably the most
important one, as well as being one of the most scenic and dangerous
drives in the world, sitting at around 10,000 ft above sea level.
There’s usually snow, and no, there are no guardrails. Why would their
be guardrails? |
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Captain Cook Highway - Australia
Captain Cook Highway is a scenic coastal road along Queensland,
Australia. There are also over 100 crashes on this road, every year.
Statistics show that over 90% are the fault of locals, which is a nice
way of saying that the people who live there are literally killing
themselves with poor driving habits. Don’t tailgate guys. Anywhere. |
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I-26 - South Carolina, US
In the first ten years of the new millennium, this stretch of road in
South Carolina claimed 325 lives in 286 accidents. That’s an average of
over two per month and more than one life lost per accident. Dangerous
road? You bet! The highway has deep ditches on either side and very few
guard rails. Data shows that I-26 has double the death rate of other,
busier highways nearby. |
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Passage Du Gois - France
This bridge goes underwater with the tide, so if you don’t time your
crossing correctly, things will go poorly for you. Even when it’s not
underwater, the Passage Du Gois is always wet, and littered with
slippery seaweed and other random things from the ocean. This is why
most people build tunnels or bridges. All that said…it’s kinda cool. But
I’m not driving on it. Ever. |
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Luxor-al-Hurghada Road - Egypt
Luxor-al-Hurghada is 299 miles through the blistering heat of the
Egyptian desert, with legit bandits. Yes, bandits. So if you break down,
you’re in the middle of nowhere, cooking in your own juices, and
then…bandits (or disgruntled local militia men, whatever). Some people
drive very fast (even at night) along the mostly unlit road (sometimes
without their headlights!) to avoid the bad guys, and it often ends
about how you’d imagine. Did we mention legit, real, not in a movie,
bandits?
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Kuandinsky bridge over Vitim River - Sibera
This bridge is wide enough for only one car, made of rotting wood and
rusting metal (because it snows ALL THE TIME), and has no safety rails.
Because it snows all the time, it’s always slippery. Yet people cross
this bridge every day. Not sure if they win a prize for bravery or are
simply disregarding with their own mortality.
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Eyre Highway - Australia
Eyre Highway is the definition of a long, lonely road. It looks kind of
like Mad Max meets wombats, but it’s so long and desolate that many
drivers fall asleep, leading to a high number of accidents and
fatalities. If it were in the US, there’d be a Wawa and billboards to
give you something to look forward to, but instead…this road literally
bores people to death. |
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