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 because of frequent human error. However they got their reputation, here are 25 of the most dangerous roads on earth.
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Paso de los Libertadores - Chile
Source:http://www.dangerousroads.org/ Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org (public domain via author) 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?
Captain Cook Highway - Australia
Source: http://artsonearth.com/ 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.
I-26 - South Carolina, US
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/ Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org (public domain via author) 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.
The Atlantic Road - Norway
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean_Road; Image: wikimedia commons (public domain via author) Like several dangerous roads on this list, The Atlantic Road is breathtakingly beautiful but dangerous. Five miles of road built across small islands, the road is often buffeted by strong winds and rain yet remains a huge tourist attraction. The road is constantly sprayed by waves, making hydroplaning a serious concern. Hydroplaning less than 100 feet above what is likely to be the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Exciting times.
Eshima Ohashi Bridge - Japan
Source & Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eshima_Ohashi_Bridge This bridge is known as the “Roller Coaster” bridge due to it’s steep incline, which was built to allow fishing boats to go under it. It is the third largest rigid frame bridge in the world. Wheee!
Other Photo credits: 24. Bahnfrend via wikimedia commons, 21. mstk east via flickr, 20. Max Pixel, 19. Florian Pépellin via wikimedia commons, 18. Przemyslaw “Blueshade” Idzkiewicz via wikimedia commons, 16. Nachoman-au via wikimedia commons, 15. Martina Nolte / , 14. Suleman.Akbar.ali via wikimedia commons, 12. JamieS93 via wikimedia commons, 11. Agencia CNT de Noticias via flickr, 9. Doug Kerr via flickr, 8. Yellow531 via wikimedia commons, 6. Beren023 via wikimedia commons, 2. SauerkrautTofuwurst via youtube (photo used with permission)
