Road trips can be fun when you’re with your crazy friends playing your favorite song and sharing yummy snack and stories.
However, there are certain roads that are extremely dangerous that one should pay a hundred percent attention if you wish to arrive at your destination safely. Their names certainly bring justice to the danger they offer. Find out the 15 most dangerous roads to cross the world down below.
1. The North Yungas Highway in Bolivia
This single-lane dirt road beside the mountain is obviously dangerous. A moment’s distraction could make it you’re last. Even though this narrow dirt road is very threatening to cross, about 300 people passed away each year trying to cross, and it’s victims are often cyclists and drivers that end up flying down to the rainforest.
2. The Guoliang Tunnel in China
40 years ago, this tunnel was hand-carved by a small group of villagers to connect into China’s Taihang Mountains. This 4,000-foot tunnel is surrounded by windows that give a peak to the drop outside. It took five years to manually carve the tunnel, and the thirty windows that make up the tunnel has no barrier at all.
3. Dalton Highway in Alaska
Surrounded by forests, tundras and over the Yukon River, but in its 240-mile road, you will not spot any gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. It’s basically a road that’s full of warning signs, a threat of avalanche and uninhabited.
4. The Atlantic Road in Norway
This curvy dangerous road does have barricades but once a storm comes, the road seems to swiftly end and covers up the barricades.
5. The Stelvio Pass in Italy
This road has 48 sharp turns and is 9,000 feet long leading into the Italian Alps. There are concrete barricades that stand along the edge of the road however, the can’t prevent you from falling downhill once you get distracted by the beautiful Alpine view.
6. Skipper’s Canyon Road in New Zealand
This road requires a special license to be able to drive through it. It has a narrow two-way road which means if another vehicle comes in front of you, you better squeeze in whatever space that’s left in this no-barrier gravel road. As it happens, this road was hand-carved by miners in the late 19th century.
7. The Zoji Pass in India
This road is over 11,000 above sea level and has a stunning view of the Himalayan Mountains. However, it is very unsafe since the road is a single lane dirt trail that has not had maintenance over the years. It was reported to be crumbling and landslides are a common occurrence.
8. The Window-Maker in the United Kingdom
This road’s dangerous sharp turns made it into “Britain’s most dangerous roads in 2010”, but even though this road’s fame has earned its nickname, “Window-Maker”, The A537 has a stunning scenery of England’s Peak District which attracts tourists alike. Talk about beautiful yet dangerous, this road is certainly a trap to inexperienced and easily distracted drivers.
9. The Victim River Bridge in Siberia
Because of Siberia’s cold weather, this wooden road is most of the time frozen which makes it unpassable. However, it’s narrow and absentee railings still scare off most cars that wish to pass thru.
This road is most likely impossible to pass thru but it had attracted a number of daredevils that try their luck in crossing it. Those who have succeeded sees it as an accomplishment so much so that a Facebook page has been created specifically for people who were able to pass.
10. Highway 1 in Florida
This road has had the highest fatal crash rate which consists of 1,079 people who passed away on this road for the last 10 years. In effect, Highway 1 in Florida also holds as the most dangerous roads in the US.
11. The Million Dollar Highway in Colorado
This highway snakes three 10,000 foot mountain passes. This also includes sharp curves and steep cliffs without guardrails to help you determine where the edge of the road ends. US Route 550 is also called as the Million dollar highway because according to local folklore, “you have to pay a million dollars to be able to drive it again.”
12. The Karakoram highway between China and Pakistan
This road stretches the length of 16,000 feet and is one of the highest paved roads in the world. The Karakoram highway connects China and Pakistan. According to the records, 900 construction workers had died during the construction of this road and now called as the “eighth wonder of the world.” They are possibly in danger from falling on the edge or during construction duties.
13. The Coasts of Roads in Croatia
These narrow two-way roads do not even have barriers nor extra space to maneuver your car. What makes it worse is that it has blind curves and sharp bends with its road leading to the cliffs at every edge.
14. Jalalabad in Afghanistan
It has been reported that there have been a number of fatal crashes on this road from Jalalabad to Kabul in Afghanistan.
There have been so many victims of this narrow and winding road that people just stopped counting years ago. Hasn’t anyone pointed out that a barrier and signs could have helped even by a little?
15. The I-45 in Houston, Texas
This road was voted to be the second most dangerous highway in the US in 2016. Interstate 45 however, has had 56.5 fatal accidents per 100 miles. That estimates about 51 fatal crashes from 2011 to 2015.
Although these roads may have beautiful sceneries of mountains or terrains, it is best to be cautious and alert when driving. It is not a secret that we often drive and then your mind just wanders off.
But please be reminded of these accident-prone roads, and remember how dangerous and steep they are regardless if there are signs or concrete barriers. It is better to be careful or avoid these roads as much as you can.