Deadly Roads

[Low rider]

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There was a program on T.V. called Deadly Roads.
The Dragon was one of them.
They were talking about how many people died on that road, and saying how dangerous it is.
It really isn't a bad road if driven in a respectful manner.
It's the idiots who ride like maniacs who make it that way.
And they said all the trucks that use the road as a shortcut make it unsafe.
Shouldn't it be closed to all truck traffic?

There were other roads, where the danger was in falling over the edge and going over a cliff.
Is that even the same thing? Why was the dragon included?

They could have mentioned the dangerous intersections where many people are killed before they mention Deals Gap.

 

[kiley]

There was a program on T.V. called Deadly Roads.
The Dragon was one of them.
They were talking about how many people died on that road, and saying how dangerous it is.
It really isn't a bad road if driven in a respectful manner.
It's the idiots who ride like maniacs who make it that way.
And they said all the trucks that use the road as a shortcut make it unsafe.
Shouldn't it be closed to all truck traffic?

There were other roads, where the danger was in falling over the edge and going over a cliff.
Is that even the same thing? Why was the dragon included?

They could have mentioned the dangerous intersections where many people are killed before they mention Deals Gap.

Interesting post.
I did a search and found what someone had listed as the 10 of the world’s most dangerous roads
Closest one to here was the Dalton Hwy
The rest were in Russia, Italy, Greece, and China and so on.
But for arguments sake let’s say you are referring to North America only.
Should the Dragon be included in a North American list?
I think so.
Many people have died on it.
I don’t have exact numbers but ya many people have died on it.
How you drive any road should not determine if it’s a “deadly road” or not
I’m pretty sure there is a new law on the Dragon in regards to trucks.
Maybe not all of it but some of it.
I get the feeling that you do not think the Dragon should be included in the list.
And that the dragon should not be in the same list that would have the Million Dollar Highway (550) as an example
Now I didn’t see the show but I’m guessing they picked dangerous roads….not how people died.
So the guard rails and such would be irrelevant.
And dangerous intersection could be a separate list altogether.

I have been on the Dragon many times.
Is it a dangerous road?
I guess maybe a lot of this is in the wording.
Deadly or dangerous.
I have also been on many roads in the area that I found to be just as technically tough as the Dragon.
These roads wouldn’t be on the list cause they are not near as well know as the Dragon.

Good post though.
I’m curious to see what others think

 

[ZX600]

There was a program on T.V. called Deadly Roads.
The Dragon was one of them.
They were talking about how many people died on that road, and saying how dangerous it is.
It really isn't a bad road if driven in a respectful manner.
It's the idiots who ride like maniacs who make it that way.
And they said all the trucks that use the road as a shortcut make it unsafe.
Shouldn't it be closed to all truck traffic?

There were other roads, where the danger was in falling over the edge and going over a cliff.
Is that even the same thing? Why was the dragon included?

They could have mentioned the dangerous intersections where many people are killed before they mention Deals Gap.

The road is closed to trucks, but it seems that GPS routes are taking truck drivers through that road and once they are in they can't turn around.

Also, if you are not going to ride the Dragon like a monkey (skilled monkey but still a monkey), what is the point on going there

http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_trucks.html

 

[JFD]

Quite often, people get sportbikes don't realize that it still requires skill to make it handle. Then a turn hits them and they realize their skills aren't quite what they thought and they ride off the road..

 

[Griffin]

Quite often, people get sportbikes don't realize that it still requires skill to make it handle. Then a turn hits them and they realize their skills aren't quite what they thought and they ride off the road..

If I'm not mistaken most of the fatalities at the Gap were cruisers.

 

[Torren]

The Dragon US129 is listed as a truck route in the McNally Motor Carrier Atlas. It's actually the route around the state park

 

[Low rider]

I must correct myself. The show was called hell roads.
Deals Gap is only as dangerous as YOU make it. All the other roads on the show were poor second class roads, high up in the mountains or roads where conditions were poor. Alk over the world.

 

[Brian P]

If I'm not mistaken most of the fatalities at the Gap were cruisers.

Trikes are disproportionately represented, too.

The locals on sport bikes who go blazingly fast are, for the most part, not the problem there. The cruiser riders who come in from the flatlands because they heard the Gap is a cool place to go, but don't realize that they don't really know how to ride except in a straight line, are a big problem. Inexperienced riders who get in over their heads are another big problem.

That show hypes up the risks in the interest of attracting viewers.

 

[AGAVE]

Also, if you are not going to ride the Dragon like a monkey (skilled monkey but still a monkey), what is the point on going there

Exactly! You gotta smuck at least one guardrail and flip it into the woods or you aren't having fun!
When you're done riding, you can change the oil and toss your used filter into the nearest creek.

 

[Low rider]

How did this get to blaming Cruisers for crashing at the Gap.
If you look at the Tree, it is all sport bike parts.

 

[gwelfmike]

Funny, I was there a a couple of years ago for an FJR owners group meet, one of the guys in the group ride had a friend on a Harley, he tried to keep up, and well, he was the one that ended up in the ditch, and no we were not really running all that hard.

So you can pick one, some or all of the following hypothesis-

Cruiser riders are not man enough to hang up anything on the tree of shame.

Cruiser riders did not want to be confused with parts that fell of from dumping their bikes as opposed to parts that just fell off from the vibration.

Cruiser riders did not realize they crashed.

Cruiser riders thought those parts fell off from being trailered there.

Okay, anyone else?

How did this get to blaming Cruisers for crashing at the Gap.
If you look at the Tree, it is all sport bike parts.

 

[ZX600]

Exactly! You gotta smuck at least one guardrail and flip it into the woods or you aren't having fun!
When you're done riding, you can change the oil and toss your used filter into the nearest creek.

 

[kiley]

I must correct myself. The show was called hell roads.
Deals Gap is only as dangerous as YOU make it. All the other roads on the show were poor second class roads, high up in the mountains or roads where conditions were poor. Alk over the world.

we were There for Bug Weekend.
There were a couple hundred Volkswagen there that weekend.
one of them crossed the centre line into my lane.
if he had hit me??????
Pretty sure in that case I didn't make it dangerous!

 

[regder]

Deals Gap is fine, but there are definitely some bad riders there. I once followed a group of about five Harley riders that were crossing the yellow line doing only 20km/h, that was a little scary. To be fair, there are some blazingly fast cruiser and sport bike riders there, as well as slow ones of each group.

I'm assuming it's the same show that did the episode on the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado. They really made the road look incredibly scary and dangerous on tv. Rode it when I was out there and it was one of the tamer roads I took in Colorado

 

[mikbusa]

Cruiser riders are not man enough to hang up anything on the tree of shame.

Cruiser riders did not want to be confused with parts that fell of from dumping their bikes as opposed to parts that just fell off from the vibration.

Cruiser riders did not realize they crashed.

Cruiser riders thought those parts fell off from being trailered there.

Okay, anyone else?

There are few parts on the tree of shame, because there are fewer cheap plastic parts to break off of a cruiser.
Take the 2013 Harley Davidson lineup for instance, you'll find a wide array of bikes for all tastes, new exciting CVO products, and loads of accessories and gear.

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_CA/Content/Pages/home.html

Celebrating 110 years of history, so head on down to your local Harley Davidson dealer today.

 

[fastar1]

There was a program on T.V. called Deadly Roads.
The Dragon was one of them.
They were talking about how many people died on that road, and saying how dangerous it is.
It really isn't a bad road if driven in a respectful manner.
It's the idiots who ride like maniacs who make it that way.
And they said all the trucks that use the road as a shortcut make it unsafe.
Shouldn't it be closed to all truck traffic?

There were other roads, where the danger was in falling over the edge and going over a cliff.
Is that even the same thing? Why was the dragon included?

They could have mentioned the dangerous intersections where many people are killed before they mention Deals Gap.

It's... a TV show.

 

[sid_for_speed]

How did this get to blaming Cruisers for crashing at the Gap.
If you look at the Tree, it is all sport bike parts.

wow ...imagine coming down by this tree in the middle of the night and staring at it

 

[Torren]

Talking to a guy at Wheelers in Deals Gap and he said they pull more Goldwings out of the ditches then any other type of bike hands down.

You can certainly be your own worst enemy on the dragon but I find other people either passing you in the same lane on a curve or crossing the centre line in front of you to be the biggest danger. Cruisers, sport bikes or cars doesn't matter, you get yahoo's piloting all of them.

 

[Wheelieboy]

Got a vid of a distracted Harley guy crashing into the ditch when I was down there in the fall.

[video=youtube_share;UsXe0I--cp0]http://youtu.be/UsXe0I--cp0[/video]

 

[Wheelieboy]

Oh, and those darn sportbike riders... (skip to 6:00)

[video=youtube_share;oVGHBDbI3iw]http://youtu.be/oVGHBDbI3iw?t=5m58s[/video]

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