Here's another way Bolivia's Highway of Death gets its name:
On Thursday, a Toyota Land Cruiser packed with 12 passengers plus a driver plowed into a group of bicyclists on a Downhill Madness bike tour who had just set out on their journey down the Unduavi-Yolosa Highway.
Twenty-two-year-old cyclist Tom Austin of the UK was killed in the collision. The SUV then rolled 300 feet down an embankment, killing eight more people inside. Two bicyclists and five people in the SUV were injured.
2nd cyclist this week
An American tourist, Kenneth Mitchell, had been killed three days earlier when he fell off his bike and down a cliff along a lower section of the road.
In reporting this story, Times Online says that some 25,000 tourists sign up at outfitters in nearby La Paz for group mountain bike rides down the road. It says 13 bicyclists have died on the road in the past 10 years.
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One of the survivors left a comment on the Times' article about the crash:
“I was on the tour yesterday when Tom was sadly killed. There are so many variables out of the control of the cyclists on these tours that I really think people arent fully aware of the risks they are taking when they sign up…we certainly werent. Everyones thoughts here are with Toms Family.”
This collision occurred on the upper paved portion of the road; it gets more winding and narrow below where it's only a dirt track. Just last night, a commenter on the previous story on Biking Bis noted the road used to be much more dangerous when it was the main route into the valley.
Before a new paved route opened last year, hundreds of people would die annually on the dirt road, often in buses.
It still sounds like the bike ride is plenty dangerous, and a decision to travel it shouldn't be taken lightly.
Photo above from TravelPod blog article about a Downhill Madness tour
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