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14 Nov 2009
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Wow
Can you imagine all those people? That's not far off the population of Hemel Hempstead!
In an article on the web, the authorities blame the increase in road deaths by the marked increase in car ownership - more people can actually now afford to run each other over. That's progress for you.
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14 Nov 2009
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Who can tell about me about Grand Trunk Road? Now I am planning a trip to India in 2010. Waiting PM from knowers.
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14 Nov 2009
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4) Pan American Highway (Costa Rica)
The Pan-American Highway system, the longest drivable road in the world, runs an incredible 30,000 miles from Alaska to the lower reaches of South America. Several stretches can be considered 'tricky', but the most infamous section is Cerro de la Muerte, a high mountain pass which runs from San Isidro de El General to Cartago in Costa Rica. It's steep, narrow, twisty, full of holes and susceptible to flash floods and landslides. Did we mention that the name translates as Hill of Death?
I just ride this road in the rain and fog, I just arrived in San Isidro with no issues at all. It was cold and wet at 3300m but by keeping away from the cars and trucks I survived. It may be more dangerous in the dry, because people may go faster,that said, there were 3 prangs, just rear enders, nothing bad.
Cheers
TS
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14 Nov 2009
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I've already conquered two of these roads, two more to go on this particular trip. Do I get a prize of I do all 10...??
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15 Nov 2009
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Road to Cotopaxi maybe dangerous but more important: Motorcyles are not allowed in the park  ...
Just tried a few days ago.
Marcus
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15 Nov 2009
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cant believe the a44 is more dangerous than the GT road in india. thats mental. and totally untrue. whats wrong with blind corners anyway, thats what makes things fun...
if i fall off and die tomorrow, please don't anyone quote me on that.
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15 Nov 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tedmagnum
By having the A44 (United Kingdom) in that list immediately makes me think it was compiled by a Pan European riding miserable old b*stard sporting a high Vis jacket and a Shoeburth helmet (with intercom) and of course with police style reflective stickers.
His wife will be obviously called Mildred and he spends his weekends tutting at riders who have an IAM sticker.
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ha ha ha haa ha ha haaaa. ha/
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15 Nov 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nico-la-vo
cant believe the a44 is more dangerous than the GT road in india. thats mental. and totally untrue. whats wrong with blind corners anyway, thats what makes things fun...
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An Indian would see the A44 as a rather well made road. The clowns who crash and then blame their own lack of skill on the fact it isn't the M-6 (on which they can just sit in lane 2) wouldn't last two minutes in Rome or Paris, never mind the Grand Trunk Road.
The difference is that these same clowns, rather than improve their skills start with the casualty figures. In the UK we are now at a level where thousands of people will work for months to fund a project that will in theory prevent the death of one person on the roads. The Indian view, forced upon them by more pressing matters is that people are actually rather easy to replace and we have too many to start with.
Removing so called safety features BTW has been shown to reduce casualties when looked at sensibly. They take out all the road markings and suddenly the road seems smaller, so drivers think more and when there are collisions they tend to be at lower speeds. The people employed to put up signs and bumps and cameras don't like that idea for some reason though, they'd rather have GPS controlled speed limiters and a vast army of civil servants to control them.
Andy
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15 Nov 2009
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Maybe our own perception of things doesn´t always tell the whole story?? And especially, if we try to compare traffic in our home country or continent, to somewhere, where we´ve only been a short time as tourists.
And also the road conditions in the summer may be VERY different than in the winter (this is the case in my home country, for example)... you´d have no idea of this, if you visited in the summer.
Maybe it could be possible to find some statistics about road injuries & fatalities from the roads mentioned, combined with information about the total kms/miles, that vehicles have been using that road. That might give you some idea of what is really dangerous, and what is not.
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15 Nov 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
An Indian would see the A44 as a rather well made road. The clowns who crash and then blame their own lack of skill on the fact it isn't the M-6 (on which they can just sit in lane 2) wouldn't last two minutes in Rome or Paris, never mind the Grand Trunk Road.
The difference is that these same clowns, rather than improve their skills start with the casualty figures. In the UK we are now at a level where thousands of people will work for months to fund a project that will in theory prevent the death of one person on the roads. The Indian view, forced upon them by more pressing matters is that people are actually rather easy to replace and we have too many to start with.
Andy
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Interesting "thinking" here....
Why? ...because there are many more people per sq.km. in England, the part of the UK where you live, than in India. Actually, per head of population, many more people in England drive a vehicle than in India. So, how many of those English "clowns", as you put it, are "too many"? Include your relatives and friends in your calculations of course; how many of them are "easy to replace"?, given that you think there are "too many to start with". Do you think there are "too many" in India or England, given that there is a denser population for the land mass in England? You must tell us.
I get the feeling that you were "tired and emotional" when you wrote this, and you will I hope, see the error of your "thinking", which is a little bit 19th century, but which also raised its ugly head in 1930s Germany. Malthus and Eugenics, if you're wondering.
Last edited by Caminando; 15 Nov 2009 at 15:47.
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15 Nov 2009
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hi,
by now i would remove the infamous death road road in Bolivia. With the new road in place it's mainly a tourist attraction for mountainbike tours.
nonetheless beautiful and impressive, but IMHO due to very little other traffic probably the safest in Bolivia! :-)
cheers,
sander
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15 Nov 2009
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The road from Msemrir to Tamtattoucht in Morocco. It links the Todra and Dades Gorge through fantastic High Atlas scenery but your car literally has to climb stairway-like slopes along very deep ravines.
I survived it but I won't do this road again!
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16 Nov 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caminando
I get the feeling that you were "tired and emotional" when you wrote this, and you will I hope, see the error of your "thinking", which is a little bit 19th century, but which also raised its ugly head in 1930s Germany. Malthus and Eugenics, if you're wondering.
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Not at all.
England indeed has the higher population density and the safer roads. I can only comment about England in detail.
Why then are we putting so much effort into reducing road deaths by one or two a year? Will you be happy when they ban bikes to save the few hundred a year that die on them? I'm sorry you can't see the difference between targeting places you can make a difference (say exercise and healthy eating to reduce heart disease) and Eugenics. It's about getting the most effect for your effort and current spending on road safety is very poor value.
Andy
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16 Nov 2009
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Well, 3W, your solution to road safety is a bit primitive to say the least. You advocate slaughter as a means of improving road safety, yet you don't include your friends and relatives in this carnage. Death is for others, not for you and yours. You actually say that it's cheaper to have slaughter - well it's not cheaper. The financial cost to society in many ways is huge, so better do a bit of research .Without facts you'll only get a bit confused. Governments want to improve road safety because road accidents COST money - you're away in a totally crazy direction, believing the exact opposite of the truth. 
You will know of course that in India 80% of accidents involve a moto, so your methods will result in many more rider deaths. I don't think you've thought this through at all? You want us to go back a hundred years. That's not good.
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16 Nov 2009
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This thread is heading off topic, keep it on track and start a new thread about some of this other stuff 
Cheers
TravellingStrom
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
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Lots more comments here!
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
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break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
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