Lo and Behold: The World’s Most Dangerous Road

Among the most treacherous roads in the world, the Derebasi Bends in Turkey’s Black Sea region is an adventure wonderland for thrill seekers.

Built by local people employed by Russian occupiers in 1916 to cut a path down the mountain, The D915 Bayburt Road in northeast Turkey won the infamous title, beating out the “Death Road” of Bolivia. Website dangerousroads.org, who conducted the research, said: “Words and pictures are not enough to tell how dangerous this road is.”

Traversing the 1,800-meter high Soganli Mountain between inland Bayburt and coastal Trabzon provinces, the 66-mile pass has 29 hairpin bends, where “you cannot turn at some of the bends in a single maneuver,” according to Central European News. With no railings, one miss will send a motorist plunging to his or her death.

Due to its high elevation on the mountains separating rainy and humid Black Sea region with continental Eastern Anatolia region, Derebasi Bends often experiences fog, rain, landslides, and avalanches, adding to its risk factor.

For six months of the year, snowfall blocks all transportation on the route. Snow is apparently the only real problem with the D915, according to Turkish authorities, who close parts of the road during the winter.

Derebasi Bends was named the most dangerous road in the world two years ago by the same site mentioned above. Locals continue to use the road, despite numerous lives lost on its passage.

After the Turkish route, India’s Keylong-Kishtwar Road was found to be the next most dangerous. Vehicles are constantly twisted along this high mountain trail, which is 144 miles long. It’s a mind-numbing vertical drop of hundreds of feet so you might want to give it a miss on a windy day. New Zealand’s La piste de l’Amitie took third place, with its sharply winding bends and precipitous ascent.

source: elitereaders