A van descends past a series of crosses marking the site of fatal accidents on the most dangerous road in the world -- Old Yungas. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Three words you don’t want to hear when you get into the car with someone: “You will die.”

For one thing, if you’re on Bolivia’s “Road of Death,” they’re just redundant. For another, they’re plausible. According to writer Michael Whitaker (whose driver on the Road of Death spoke these three magic words to him “loudly, eerily and in perfect English” while another motorist passed the vehicle), 200 to 300 people die each year on the North Yungas Road that runs from the Amazon forest to Bolivia’s capital of La Paz.

Why? Because it’s a two-lane road that’s only 10.5 feet wide. And though it winds along cliffs that drop off into canyons half a mile deep, it has no guard rail. Also, it’s not paved the whole way. So during the rainy season, the muddy road melts, and cars that stall or stop to wait out the rain get washed down the Andes Mountains. According to Whitaker, some of the drivers on the road chew coca leaves to stay awake while they put the pedal to the metal. Not the safest of conditions.

Nevertheless, as you might not imagine, the Road of Death attracts tourists, and more specifically, cyclists. Mountain bikers looking for a really steep, long downhill stretch think the Road of Death is the bee’s knees. It drops 11,800 feet in just 40 miles, according to The Times of London, and 25,000 cyclists hoping to take in some gorgeous Andes views bike the road. But it really is a dangerous trek. Just to give one example — in 2008, some cyclists collided with a Toyota Land Cruiser, which tumbled down an embankment. One cyclist and eight passengers in the vehicle were killed.

As dangerous roads go, the North Yungas Road tops most lists. Would you be brave enough to drive a road that kills people?

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