The 19 most complex and dangerous roads in the world
Though Spaghetti Junction was bad? Pah, it only clocks in at No.8 in this list of difficult and death-defying global highways.
From the hairpin turns in the Italian mountains, to the almost impassible Lena Highway in the wilds of Eastern Russia, these are some serious roads.
I remember going along the Leh – Manali road back in 1989 during a torrential downpour and we very nearly came off a couple of times.
Our driver thought he was the Indian equivalent of Lewis Hamilton and raced along in a beaten-up jeep at breakneck speeds. I recall sitting on the left-hand side of the vehicle, giving me a perfect view of the sheer drop many times – a frightening few hours.
Having got so far, we ended up having to turn back and hole up in Leh overnight, after a landslide caused the road became impassible.
Such was the squeeze for rooms in the town, 10 of us ended up sleeping on the floor of a hotel manager’s office – not the most comfortable of nights ever.
The next day, the Indian Army did indeed get called out to unblock the road and the jam eased and we arrived at Manali a day late, but fortunately still alive.
The motto – if you can get away with driving yourself, do. Indian drivers are utter lunatics.
Rachel
On an almost weekly basis I travel the Road of Death (E11, Dubai) which is a seven lane highway (14 for both lanes) runny through the centre of the city and filtering out and in traffic from every major part and arterial road in the city. Fast, slow, blind, deaf, raging, oblivious, lost drivers from every country of the world and in every sort of vehicle travel that road. With the various purposes, routes and cultural dispositions towards driving involved in transit on the 14 lanes, and given that most of it is being built or rebuilt so that it’s really a crazy paving of diversions, I’d vote this as the most dangerous road in the world.
I’ve travelled the same road to Leh. In a bus. Most of the time only three wheels were applied to the ground. Also check out the Death Road in Bolivia.
rob
Sounds horrendous. My memories of drivers in India are that providing they honked their horn loudly and often enough that would do. I feared for my life more there than at any other time.