# Scariest road you've ever driven on? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051 "2010-01-07T18:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/81 "2010-01-10T01:29:48Z")
The Hana “highway” State Rt 360 on the island of Maui. I lived for 30 years in the far northwest of California with many very twisty mountain roads, but this road that circles the island is really bad. One lane, no safety devices, drops of several hundred feet, blind curves, rocks in the road, partial pavement, almost no places to turn, and completely rural. The road is posted as being bad, and not for casual sightseeing. They mean it. It was very foolish for me to have taken it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/82 "2010-01-10T04:22:11Z")
About 25 years ago, I went from Oklahoma City to Florida. Somewhere on the way down there, there was a stretch of road, which, IIRC, was about 100 miles between towns, and completely tree lined. Restated, you left one town, and saw nothing but the road, other cars, and trees per 100 miles. I can’t even remember the name of it. hh ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/83 "2010-01-10T04:30:05Z")
My then 8 yo daughter and I were driving from Monterey, CA to Hearst Castle. We had to be there by 830 am for a tour. It’s about 90 miles so we left about 530 am…Surely three hours would be plenty of time. Well it took every bit of that time… Hwy 1 is very twisty and turny and scary in the dark…lots of cliffs overlooking the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/84 "2010-01-10T05:06:51Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > About 25 years ago, I went from Oklahoma City to Florida. Somewhere on the way down there, there was a stretch of road, which, IIRC, was about 100 miles between towns, and completely tree lined. Restated, you left one town, and saw nothing but the road, other cars, and trees per 100 miles. I can’t even remember the name of it. Sounds like the part of Arkansas I went through, traveling from Kentucky down to Texas. If boredom is scary, then yes, that was quite scary. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/85 "2010-01-10T07:13:11Z")
I’m not sure exactly what road it was except that it wasn’t the Palisades Parkway because I missed a turn somewhere. But the road I was on was somewhere in a seriously bad neighbourhood in Union City at night. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/86 "2010-01-10T08:16:57Z")
There’s a steep (though it doesn’t look it in Google Earth photos), rather long hill that heads into Eagle River Alaska about 10 miles north of Anchorage. Its nickname is “brake light hill”. When it’s snowing and slick it can be a bit unnerving, people get scared and tap their brakes and inch down the hill (hence its nickname). But the scariest drive I’ve ever had was one winter about 20 some odd years ago. It was below freezing and a water main of some sort had broken and covered the entire hill with water, which of course had frozen and turned the entire hill into a steep ice rink. The bottom of the hill, before it heads up into Eagle River is actually a bridge over the river. Cops had shown up to direct traffic down this nightmare and they stopped all traffic at the top of the hill. Then they allowed two vehicles at a time (staggered) to make their way down the hill. Only when the vehicles had cleared the area did they allow the next two. That trip, down what was basically an ice rink on a hill, was the scariest drive I’ve had in 32 years of driving. It was a short drive distance-wise, but it was terrifying. There was no control at all, you basically had to just let the car roll and if it slid it slid. The car going down the hill ahead of me kept losing control and didn’t know how to turn into the slide. I was sure he was going to spin out and that I’d slide right into him. How many calories an hour do you burn from sheer terror? I’m sure I lost at least 2 pounds on that hill! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/87 "2010-01-10T10:02:14Z")
This is the [warning](http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u3/RobClubley/South%20Island%20Trip%202007/Day%205%20-%20Skippers%20Canyon/DSC06948.jpg) sign for a road I’ve always wanted to drive, but haven’t got to yet. It’s the Skipper’s Canyon road, near Queenstown. [Passing](http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u3/RobClubley/South%20Island%20Trip%202007/Day%205%20-%20Skippers%20Canyon/DSC07058.jpg) someone is interesting! [Yikes!](http://davidwallphoto.com/images/%7BA32193FF-10ED-4382-B3E0-3EAB463A896B%7D.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/88 "2010-01-10T10:11:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > What makes it even more interesting is that everyone on the right has the right of way. As I recall, there are at least 5-6 spoke roads that empty into the circle. They, and everyone in lanes to your right, have priority. It’s complete madness during rush hour and collisions are frequent. Then all parties stand in the middle of 2,000 honking cars and shout at each other. > > I’ve been on many twisting and exciting roads, including the old Lewiston Grade out of Lewiston, Idaho and the Rattlesnake, which also leaves out of Lewiston. I’ve been over Atigun Pass in the Brooks Range on a 12% grade, climbed over the rockies and the sierras, driven Crazy Woman Canyon in Wyoming, driven across desert in Africa, and driven roads that cars shouldn’t be on. > > But the scariest drive ever was on a very familiar road in Eagle River, Alaska. It’s a 2-lane blacktop that goes out to Chugach State Park and is normally an easy drive, even though it’s unlighted. But one Christmas I went out to my brother’s place for dinner. > > The drive in was not a problem. It had warmed up a bit and the ice on the road had melted. Unfortunately, a cold front moved in rapidly (as in about three hours) and all that water froze into a sheet of ice. The 20-mile drive out in a Jeep Wrangler without studs in pitch black was the most stressful thing I’ve done in a car. Creeping along at 5mph in low-low AWD, looking at all the cars and trucks off the road, the slightest touch of the brakes sending the vehicle sliding toward the dropoffs was truly scary. Huh! I didn’t see this before I posted mine, but this makes me feel a lot less like a big scaredy cat. Eagle River roads really are some scary drives. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/89 "2010-01-10T13:59:12Z")
I would say, the highway that connects the San Ysidro mission with the Pacific Coast Highway (Californis Rt. 1). It is a twisty road, with many sections without guard rails. One strech had a 2000’ drop of the side. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/90 "2010-01-10T14:16:34Z")
Route 666 in Ohio. After what must have been a spectacularly heavy rain some of the road had washed away. It was unnerving to drive along a hill curve and come upon guard rails hanging in mid-air with no shoulder under them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/91 "2010-01-10T17:08:11Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Huh! I didn’t see this before I posted mine, but this makes me feel a lot less like a big scaredy cat. Eagle River roads really are some scary drives. I remember riding with my brother way back when the Glenn Highway was only two-lane and the approach to the Eagle River bridge was straight down and straight back up the other side. No curves to ease the way. We were going out to his place in Peters Creek, the road was icy and he was drinking (as usual). We made it down the hill okay and got across the bridge, but then he suddenly tried to accelerate on the other side. The little Ford Falcon immediately shot off the road, up an embankment, teetered there for a moment, then (thankfully) plunged back down onto the road. We crawled the rest of the way home. Cars rarely had seatbelts in those days, so we were tossed around pretty thoroughly. Next morning, I went out to the car and every knob stem (for heaters, vents, etc.) was bent over 90 degrees from our knees banging into them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/92 "2010-01-10T18:41:32Z")
91 posts and no one has said Hanna Highway? rock in one side, 500m drop on the other, 1.9 cars wide, tourists and busses oh my! ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/93 "2010-01-11T04:02:48Z")
See above post by Sunstone. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/94 "2010-01-11T08:17:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I remember riding with my brother way back when the Glenn Highway was only two-lane and the approach to the Eagle River bridge was straight down and straight back up the other side. No curves to ease the way. We were going out to his place in Peters Creek, the road was icy and he was drinking (as usual).. I think I dated him. Once. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/95 "2010-01-11T08:59:26Z")
I’ve driven the road to Hana twice now and it was not nearly as bad as it’s made out to be, even in a driving rain. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/96 "2010-01-11T09:26:42Z")
The scariest roads I’ve ever been on were in Nepal and Tibet respectively - the former having a 1km drop to the right, a cliff to the left, and the carcasses of smashed buses and trucks visible every few hundred yards at the bottom of the ravine, with insane fuckers in cars and trucks trying to overtake on blind corners, and cows and people wandering about; the latter packed ice over the top of the trans-Himalaya with similar drops all around, except covered in snow and ice, with the Pathfinder we were in skidding around and the driver refusing to put the 4WD on, to save fuel, being overtaken on the high passes by two buses packed with cheering Tibetans, racing each other. However, I wasn’t driving on them. The scariest road I’ve ever actually driven on was National Highway 1 in Vietnam, riding a motorcycle. Might makes right there, and several times I just had to throw myself off the road into the ditch to avoid being pulverised by vehicles coming the other way, overtaking each other three-wide with no regard to what’s in front of them. Also, the peasants use the highway to thresh their soy beans, which is fine if you’re in a car or a truck, but not so good if you’re only on two wheels. But the worst part of the entire road was when I came into the outskirts of Saigon in a monsoon deluge. Scary fucking shit, particularly because the other drivers don’t acknowledge the weather, and keep their lights off to save gas. I gave up after about 30 minutes and rested up in a café to wait for it to finish. (I’d do it again in a heartbeat, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/97 "2010-01-11T15:07:15Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > The Hana “highway” State Rt 360 on the island of Maui. > > I lived for 30 years in the far northwest of California with many very twisty mountain roads, but this road that circles the island is really bad. One lane, no safety devices, drops of several hundred feet, blind curves, rocks in the road, partial pavement, almost no places to turn, and completely rural. > > The road is posted as being bad, and not for casual sightseeing. They mean it. It was very foolish for me to have taken it. Yep, calling it a “highway” is just cruel. It’s awfully pretty but I couldn’t enjoy much of it because it was frightening, and made worse by my father-in-law being the one driving, since he’s pretty bad at staying in his lane even on a smooth, straight, paved highway. The second one also had my father-in-law driving; it was when we were visiting the Lake Como region in Italy. Narrow mountain roads, frequent lack of guardrails, a lane and a half (by Italian standards, which is frightening for most Americans on straight roads) if you’re lucky, etc. At least both places were more-or-less paved and during daylight/decent weather, but they were not picnics. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/98 "2010-01-11T15:54:41Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > This is the [warning](http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u3/RobClubley/South%20Island%20Trip%202007/Day%205%20-%20Skippers%20Canyon/DSC06948.jpg) sign for a road I’ve always wanted to drive, but haven’t got to yet. What’s with the tire marks in the first diamond? Gravel roads cause spinouts? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/99 "2010-01-11T16:23:18Z")
The single scariest drive I’ve made was last March - a mountain road between Petersburg and Davis, West Virginia. We were near / at the Eastern Continental Divide. It was night time, it had been raining, and the fog was so thick you literally couldn’t see 5 feet in front of the car. I had zero idea where the road’s lanes were. I don’t know if there was a guard rail. There was no place to pull over safely - if another car had come along and been similarly blind, it could have plowed into us, killing everyone. That 20 minutes was the longest 4 hours of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051/100 "2010-01-11T17:15:14Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I think I dated him. Once. 😃 I’ve heard that a lot over the years. He was a wild child up until about age 40. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-road-youve-ever-driven-on/524051.md?page=6)