Institute for Transportation

Go! Magazine

posted on August 12, 2014

These roads are neat to look at, but can be scary to drive If you ever drive on roads similar to those in the photos below, you should follow a few safety tips. The following tips apply primarily to driving in mountainous or high-altitude situations:

1. Check your car before you set out: Lights, brakes, tires, windshield wipers, defrost, and exhaust system.
2. Go slow: This may seem obvious, but many people make the mistake of going too fast.
3. Switch to a lower gear when going downhill.
4. Stay to the outside of your lane. It can be very dangerous if two drivers approach each other around a corner and are hugging the center line.
5. If you need to stop, try to pull over in a safe location. If the stop is immediate, do not put yourself in a hazardous situation; just stay in your lane.
6. Remember that your car is operating with reduced horsepower at high altitude. At high elevation, cars do not have the same horsepower as they do at sea level due to less oxygen in the air. For every 1,000 feet above sea level, cars lose 4 percent horsepower.
7. Remember that YOU are operating with reduced horsepower at high altitude.
8. If you get out of your car to hike, take it slow, especially if you are not used to high altitude conditions.
9. Reduce your driving time. If you can, switch drivers at a rest area, or limit your driving to a few hours a day.

Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

This road in Pakistan shows just how dangerous roads can be. This following shows the traffic after the road was blocked due to a landslide.

Tarma, Peru

Tarma is located in the Andes Mountains. The city is at 3,000 meters, or 9,843 feet, above sea level. At that altitude, you have two-thirds as much oxygen as at sea level!

Yungas, Bolivia

This road, North Yungas Road, was named “world’s most dangerous road”? by the Inter-American Development Bank. In 2006, it is estimated that 200 to 300 travelers died along this road. The North Yungas Road is one of the few roads that connect the Amazon rainforest region of Yungas to the city of Coroico.

Glacier County, Montana

This road, Going-to-the-Sun Road, is the only road to cross the Continental Divide at Logan Pass within Glacier National Park, Montana. Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed in 1932, and is named for Going-to-the-Sun Mountain.

Related links

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/tips/mountaindriving.htm

By Jackie Nester, Go! Staff Writer

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