There are many frightening things that a trucker needs to deal with on the road, fuel prices being among them. And when they aren’t busy looking for parking, they’re busy trying to keep away from the crazy cars cutting them off and break-checking them like they can stop on a dime.
Please, people, carry over a little gratitude from this week of appreciation and drive with respect around these road heroes.
As if fuel, detention, lack of parking, and an overabundance of cars aren’t enough, roads can present far worse hazards.
FreightWaves published an article listing some of the most dangerous roads in the U.S. One of those roads pops up on many lists and is even listed in the top 10 worldwide.
Alaska’s Dalton highway is one of the most dangerous in the U.S. and the world. Most traffic on this road actually occurs during the winter when the ground is frozen and strong enough to handle the weight of the trucks.
Hardly recognizable as a highway, this dirt road from Fairbanks to Deadhorse (not exactly but close and what a cool name) presents one of the toughest conditions in the world — avalanches, solid ice surfaces, blizzards, frozen mud ruts and wildlife, like big-ass bears and wolves and…
Oh, and a balmy -50 degrees as you figure out what to do when you break down … alone.
I said it was one of the most dangerous in the world and Knorr-Bremse reports that the number one most dangerous road in the world turns out to be one that I have been on. Not in a truck.
The Yungas Road in Bolivia, which runs from the rainforests to La Paz, has a 4,670-meter elevation change over 65 kilometers. That’s trucking steep!
Three hundred deaths per year is the average, and it’s no wonder with rain, lightning, fog, gravel, mud and rockslides — all on a 12-foot-wide, two-way mountainside, single-lane road.
Sign me right the hell up for that trip. It was a white-knuckler in a car and I did not go the whole trip.
Worst drive I ever had in a big rig was across St. Lucia from Vieux Fort to Castries. Similar to the Yungas Road, but with better views!
Keep safe drivers!
Peace and Love!
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