Top 10 World’s Most Dangerous Drives
Author: admin
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The world has its fair share of dangerous roads but some are more notorious than others when it comes to striking fear into the hearts of those who have driven them; with locals even labeling them with such names as “Road of Death” and the “Devils Backbone”.
A new breed of adventure tourist – intent on finding and traveling down a selection of the most dangerous roads the world has to offer – travels every year to search for adrenaline fueled twists, dizzying heights and peril awaiting them at every corner.
Follow below for the worlds top 10 list in descending order of peril:
1: North Jungas Road (“The Road of Death”); Certainly deserving of being labeled “the most dangerous” road in the world, a dizzying high altitude 61km stretch of perilous road with no guard rails to offer safety from the surrounding 2000ft drops waiting to claim the unwitting tourist.
2: Sichuan Highway; A road with rock and landslides a plenty along its 2412km long stretch, winding through incredibly scenic landscape and crossing some of the worlds most well-known rivers. Beautiful it may be but very deadly having claimed the lives of many thousands of Chinese people between 1985 and today.
3: Russia’s Highway from Hell (Lena Highway); In one of the coldest civilized parts of the world – with temperatures often achieving record breaking lows – a treacherous enough stretch in winter but an absolute mud bath in summer when traffic jams numbering into the thousands renders travel impossible. Crime is rife during this period with kidnapping and robbery not uncommon.
4: Guoliang Tunnel Road; literally hewn from the cliff face, this road is certainly an engineering feat for the Taihing mountain tribe who built it during the latter part of last century (and responsible for many fatalities in the process). Scenic views await but so does peril for the incautious driver due to the solid stone walls and sheer drops awaiting you should your attention wander too much to the marvelous scenery.
5: James Dalton Highway; made popular by the “Ice Road Truckers” TV series, an extremely dangerous and remote road with danger lurking at every turn. Hazards include rocks flung into your windscreen by passing trucks and an extremely slippery & pothole filled road surface. Cars with poor or new suspension can be seriously damaged and this drive should not be attempted by the faint hearted or those without plenty of supplies and extra fuel should the unfortunate happen.
6: Halsema Highway; A treacherous 241km stretch of road with mudslides and rock-falls an all too common occurrence. With drops of up to 1000ft and not much in the way of guardrails, overturning your vehicle – or worse – is quite possible, especially during the wet season when the road becomes virtually impassable.
7: Van Zyl’s Pass; More of a dirt track created by the frequent traveling of vehicles along the route, but certainly a deserving contender for this list. An extremely steep trail with boulders and rocks strewn across the path as if flung there to await the unlucky, inexperienced driver; the surrounding ravines make mistakes here unforgiving but the journey is worth it to experience the spectacular views of the Marienfluss Valley (carved by a glacier in the last ice-age) from the top of the pass.
8: Karakoram Highway; Sometimes labeled as the 9th wonder of the world, this engineering wonder spans 1300km in length and connects China and Pakistan with what is the highest paved road in the world. An unfortunate 892 workers died during its construction (mainly on the longer Pakistani side) and it remains perilous today with landslides a regular occurrence. The most recent of which, in fact, created the new Attabad Lake (22km in length & over 100 meters in depth) and caused a closure of a stretch of the road in the Hunza valley. 
9: Leh-Manali Highway; looping through some of the highest mountain passes in the world (at between 2-3 miles above sea level), this 478km stretch of perilous road has danger awaiting the unsuspecting traveler at every corner, with snowstorms and landslides common. Not one to be attempted by the inexperienced driver due to the lack of guard rails and need for a well driven 4 wheel drive vehicle.
10: The Devils Backbone (Mex 40); Narrow, tight curves and open sheer drops await the unfortunate here. Trucks often take up the full width of the road on corners leaving little or no room for the opposing traffic. All the hazards are well signed, making it much safer than other contenders on this list, but still a road to be taken very seriously.