Irish roads aren’t that bad
after all
By Malcolm Rogers
I know many of you probably believe that the most dangerous road in the
world is the A1 from Newry to Dundalk. Because the road straddles the
border, de facto, 50 per cent of the drivers in each jurisdiction are
immune from the law. Short of killing someone — which of course
does happen with dreadful regularity — Northern drivers in the Republic
get away with flouting the traffic laws and vice versa.
Most of the counties bordering the North have higher accident rates than
anywhere else in Ireland or Britain — but they still can’t
hold a candle to what has now been officially classified as the Most Dangerous
Road In The World. Ladies and gentlemen I give you . . . . tarantara,
roll of the drums . . . the Siberian Road to Yakutsk in Russia.
This is the official federal-government highway to Yakutsk, the only land
route in or out. Intrepid motorists are doomed to wallow in mud for days
with queues stretching back 100km. This can turn into a major humanitarian
disaster during rainy spells when the usual clay covering of the road
turns into an impassable mud blanket, swallowing trucks and tractors alike.
But there’s more. A quite normal 30km stretch of Russian country
road leading on to the highway suffers an unexplained amount of car accidents.
Locals suspect underground gas seepage which causes motorists to fall
asleep. This is supported by tales from survivors, who rarely remember
anything prior to the crash and act strangely “drugged” afterwards.
So just think about that the next time you begin complaining about traffic
on the M25.
Next time: Bolivia’s “Road of Death” from La Paz to
Coroico, which plunges down 9,000 feet in an orgy of extremely narrow
hairpin curves and 2,500 abyss near-misses. This column’s advice
if you’re heading for La Paz: Forget about harming the planet —
take the plane. Better still, holiday in Ireland. You really can’t
beat the road from Augher to Clogher and then on to Fivemiletown.
|
