Danger awaits along The Devils Own Roads
There are a number of roadways that were designed by the devil himself, simply for the purpose of bringing drivers to grief. They exist all over Spain, and probably in other countries as well, but the road authorities will not admit to their existence, because then the public will demand that the problems that they present be corrected.
What a bloody shame that to sue the bastards would be an exercise in futility. Imagine that, to be cavalier as you wish without any real possibility of redress.
I recently wrote about car crashes along straight roads, and I put it down to inattention, but I have found out the hard way that there can be another culprit: there are all those roads that are narrow and that lack a barrier. Vehicles find themselves come to ruin because when two vehicles are passing, it is very likely that if your judgement is just a little bit off and you drift too far to the right you will simply fall off the freaking road.
You cannot have any real idea of where you are, and all it takes is for the front right hand side wheel to slip off the tarmac and in the ditch you go. This happened to my son along a strip of road that claims at least one unlucky vehicle a week, according to the personnel at the nearby service station and the recovery vehicle driver.
The farm owner showed up to survey the latest “damage” to his rusty and ripped fence. He said that the government wants to buy a strip of his garden to widen the road, but he doesn’t want to sell. I suppose the situation will persist until someone is killed, and probably even beyond, as this situation should have been rectified long ago. However, no-one will make the necessary move to make a compulsory purchase.
In reality, these types of road systems are ancient and were made to serve horse and cart traffic, or at best they served Seat 600 toy cars. However, today all manner of traffic can be expected, including the very large buses and trucks. It is just a matter of time before a bus will meet a truck and they will both fall off the road into the ditch.
Such roads as these are best avoided at all costs, even if a long detour is involved. To travel along them may incurr a cost too great to bear.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
