The world's scariest, most dangerous roads
you dare not drive!
From roller-coaster bridges to precarious
mountain and jungle tracks.
We take a look at five of the world's
most dangerous roads.
Sit back, hold on to your seats and enjoy the ride!
North Yungas Road, Bolivia.
The North Yungas Road leads from La Paz to Coroico,
northeast of La Paz in Bolivia.
In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank
christened it as the world's most dangerous road.
In 2006 one estimate stated that 200-300 travellers lost
their lives yearly along the road.
The road includes cross markings on many
of the spots where vehicles have fallen.
This largely single-lane road has few guard rails
and cliffs of up to 600 metres.
Most of the road is the width of a single vehicle.
During the rainy season from November to March,
rain and fog can severely hamper visibility,
and water runoff can turn the road into a muddy track
affecting traction.
In the summer rock falls are common
and vehicle dust limits visibility as well.
The North Yungas Road was also featured on the
BBC show 'Top Gear: Bolivia Special'.
The danger of the road has made it a popular
tourist destination, especially with mountain bikers.
Nevertheless, the Yungas Road remains perhaps
the most dangerous road in the world.
At least 18 cyclists have lost their lives
on the road since 1998.
Rohtang Pass
Rohtang Pass literally means 'pile of corpses'
in the local Tibetan language due to people
losing their lives in bad weather trying to cross
the mountain pass, which is found at an elevation
of 3978 metres on the eastern
Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas.
It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and
Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
The pass is open from May to November
and has a well deserved reputation for being dangerous
because of unpredictable snowstorms and blizzards.
Traffic jams are common as military vehicles, trucks
and goods carriers try to naviagate the tight roads
and rough terrain, compounded by snow and ice
at certain points and the large number
of tourist vehicles.
Several episodes of the History Channel's
'Ice Road Truckers' spinoff 'IRT Deadliest Roads'
dealt with truckers crossing the Rohtang Pass
to deliver supplies.
The pass was also featured on
the 'Top Gear: India Special'.
Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway
The Atlantic Ocean Road runs through an archipelago,
and unsheltered part of the sea connecting an island
with mainland Norway.
It is built on several small islands connected
by several causeways, viaducts and eight bridges.
The most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge.
The road is classified as a National Tourist Route
and is popular for automotive commercials and has
been declared the world's best road trip.
You can see why in this video of the road
taken in pretty unforgiving conditions.
Although scenic, it is famous for its harsh weather.
Unexpected gusts and sea spray combined
with roller-coaster like dips and rises mean that
this ranks both as one of the world's most dangerous
and spectacular roads.
If you think this journey looks rough
Imagine it in snowstorms and blizzards!
Skippers Canyon Road
Skippers Canyon is a historic and scenic gorge,
some 22 kilometers in length, located several kilometers
north of Queenstown, New Zealand.
Established as a track during the gold rush,
it was unsafe and those who tried to take packhorses
sometimes lost them and their supplies.
Demand for a proper road grew and the track
was made into a road.
Many sections of the road remain today
very much as they were in 1890.
The local rock is so soft that under traffic
it quickly turns into dust in dry weather,
and in wet weather to greasy mud.
Under these conditions it is no surprise to learn that
initially motor vehicles were banned
from driving on Skippers Road
at the beginning of the 1900s.
After the gold rush Skippers Road
became a tourist attraction.
Petitions supporting a plan that cars could be used
to travel on Skippers Road, as well as petitions
to ban them were signed.
The community was split and a court ruled that
Skippers Road could be used by cars.
But drivers need to give warning of their travel plans
by applying for a permit.
There are even time limits on the road.
There is a penalty fine
if those regulations are disregarded.
Skippers Canyon Road makes it onto the list because
rental car insurance is not honoured if it
driven on, and it is mostly one-way, narrow and steep
with sheer drops of several hundred metres.
Eshima Ohasji Bridge
Let's aim for the summit of this mountain of a road.
The Eshima Ohasji Bridge in Japan
connects Matsue and Sakaiminato and is the
third largest rigid-frame bridge in the world.
It looks like you drive up one side
and fall off the other into the water.
Images of the bridge have circulated widely
on the internet, due to it appearing very steep
from a short distance.
If you haven't been up this before you should be
prepared for a rollercoaster of a ride.
Take a look at this video
as we go for a ride on it in a car.
Thanks for watching
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