Car break downs are never enjoyable – from having to wait to get the car repaired, to having to wonder how much the repairs will cost. The area where your car breaks down makes a huge difference as to what your experience will be like. Breaking down in your driveway is much better than breaking down in the middle of the desert. In this blog entry, I’ll detail some of the worst possible places in the world that your car could break down.
Highway 50 in the USA
This road, known as Loneliest Road, runs from Fernley to Ely in the arid state of Nevada for over 287 miles with only a few gas stations along the way. The AAA has announced an official warning to drivers not to drive through there unless they are 100% confident in their driving prowess – and since hours can go by without passing another vehicle or having a tow truck come to your rescue, it would take a very long time for help to arrive if your car broke down.
Death Road in Bolivia
We’re going to start the list off with an ominous entry; the North Yungas road earned its nickname by being the most dangerous road in the world. This 40 mile long stretch kills about 200-300 travelers a year in it’s meandering through curves from La Paz in Yungas to the Coroico region. In the Top Gear Bolivia Special, Jeremy Clarkson learned how dangerous this road is when he was forced to the very edge of the road in a Range Rover while passing, the road turning to dust beneath the car. The combination of heavy wind, rain, fog, and dust makes for very poor visibility which makes a break down even worse of an occurrence.
The M40 in the United Kingdom
This road has zero slip roads on the long stretches of highway between intersections, so it’s incredibly difficult for rescue teams to reach any scene of a breakdown. If there’s even the slightest amount of traffic, the recovery truck will be stuck in the same sort of traffic as everyone else, and would have to wait to pass. If you break down on this road, it’ll be a while until you get help.
Lena Highway in Russia
This 600 mile long dirt road becomes a total swamp in the summer. Tons of cars sink into it every year, and since it’s in the middle of nowhere, there’s very little you can do if your car sinks into mud. It’s the only available road to Yatkutsk City, so it’s begrudgingly used by travelers, despite its extreme inherent riskiness.
The Mountain of Death in Costa Rica
This section of the 30,000 mile long Pan-American highway in Costa Rica has tight curves, floods, landslides, and cliffs. It’s dangerous to traverse this road in a protected vehicle – now just imagine how hard it must be to travel on it by foot!! You definitely don’t want to break down here.