It’s the kind of footage that makes you shrink back into your chair, bracing yourself for the worst.
The view is that of a winding, crumbling road ahead and sheer 2,000ft drops either side.
Does this sound like your worst nightmare? Well, for many drivers this has been the reality – and they have somehow defied the forces of nature and survived the world’s most treacherous roads.
Stomach-churning footage shows daring drivers and motorcylists inching their way along narrow mountain passes – with no walls to protect them if they make a single mistake.
Here, MailOnline takes a look at footage of motorists driving along the world’s most terrifying roads – and somehow cheating death.
China
Nail-biting footage shows a lorry teetering off the edge of a 330ft cliff in China after the driver missed a corner on the narrow mountain road.
The driver had been following his sat-nav up the narrow road, a sheer drop to the right and the steep face of the mountain to the left, when he veered off the road while trying to turn the lorry.
The driver and a passenger, by some stroke of luck, managed to flee the lorry as it dangled precariously off the edge of the cliff near the city of Changzhi in January 2022.
Nail-biting footage shows a lorry teetering off the edge of a 330ft cliff in China after the driver missed a corner on the narrow mountain road
The front wheel of the truck slipped over the edge of a cliff near the city of Changzhi in Shanxi Province in northern China
Toe-curling drone footage shows the lorry precariously tipped over the edge, while separate video shows workers recovering the stricken vehicle.
The driver had tried to turn back down the road as the track got steeper and narrower with each minute.
He began reversing the lorry, edging between the rock face on one side and a steep cliff on the other but one of the truck’s wheels slipped off the road, leaving the vehicle dangling off the cliff edge.
Nepal
Footage, not for the faint-hearted, shows a group of British tourists navigating a narrow mountainous road with a 2,000ft drop on one side.
Video shows the group in the Manaslu mountainous region in Nepal as they approach a large overhang over the rocky track.
Filming the approach, the cameraman gives a running commentary of the area, describing the route as the ‘maddest road I have ever been down in my life’.
Footage, not for the faint-hearted, shows a group of British tourists navigating a narrow mountainous road with a 2,000ft drop on one side
The three-minute long clip shows the group in the Manaslu mountain area approaching a large overhang above a track
During the nerve-racking journey, one passenger was forced to step out of the vehicle – narrowly avoiding the vertical drop into a river- and run on ahead to ‘scope out the route’.
The cameraman can be heard saying: ‘What do you reckon of that drop? Oh my god.
‘Oh s***. So we’ve now got to a stage where the roof rack is going to get stuck under the overhang, so Rincou’s had to go ahead and scope out the height so we can get through with a van.
‘It’s the narrowest piece of road we’ve been down. The drop to the river is [an] estimated 2,000ft.’
India
Video shows a motorcyclist nearby being thrown down the edge of a steep mountain in India as he tried to overtake a lorry.
The motorcyclist lost control of his bike as he rode through the narrow and muddy stretches of the Zojila pass in the Himalayas.
The driver, who was following a truck transporting iron pipes, had gone to the right side of the road – inches away from the sheer drop – to see if he could overtake the truck.
Video shows a motorcyclist nearby being thrown down the edge of a steep mountain in India as he tried to overtake a lorry
The motorcyclist lost control of his bike as he rode through the narrow and muddy stretches of the Zojila pass in the Himalayas
In a stroke of luck the rider, who had nearly fallen off his bike and tumbled down the sheer cliff edge to his death, managed to regain control at the last second
But the motorcylist lost control as he got dangerously close to the truck in front and skidded along the muddy track towards the mountain edge.
In a stroke of luck the rider, who had nearly fallen off his bike and tumbled down the sheer cliff edge to his death, managed to regain control at the last second.
The Zojila pass, which provides a vital road link between the Kashmir valley and Ladakh, is considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous mountain roads.
Peru
Toe-curling footage shows a driver inching along a narrow and crumbling road, with a sheer drop down the Cotahausi Canyon in Peru below.
A passenger of the van films the treacherous drive through the 11,000ft deep canyon, which is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Video shows the van slowly making its way across the unpaved and crumbling road, with the window overlooking a steep drop down to the bottom of the canyon.
Toe-curling footage shows a driver inching along a narrow and crumbling road, with a sheer drop down the Cotahausi Canyon in Peru below
There are no walls to protect the driver and passengers from certain death if they make a single mistake.
But by some stroke of luck, the driver manages to navigate their way through the winding road, which features hairpin bends and stomach-curling drops.
France
Incredible footage shows a lorry carrying huge logs making its way through the winding roads of the French Alps.
The driver can be seen driving the log truck up the narrow road, a sheer drop to the left and the steep face of the mountain to the right, with the heavy load of felled trees.
The video shows the driver slowly edging his way around a corner, the front of the lorry looking out towards the sheer drop below.
Incredible footage shows a lorry carrying huge logs making its way through the winding roads of the French Alps.
At one point the driver has to edge closer to the sheer drop to avoid a large overhanging rock
The driver expertly navigates their way around the corner – but is met by a narrow crumbling road that is barely as wide as the lorry.
At one point the driver has to edge closer to the sheer drop to avoid a large overhanging rock.
The footage was filmed on narrow roads near Roche-de-Rame, a commune in the French Alps, southeastern France.
Pakistan
Video shows a group of tourists navigating a jeep across one of the world’s most dangerous roads in Pakistan.
The footage shows the driver driving up the narrow and unpaved Fairy Meadow Road from Raikot to Tattu village, with steep drops either side.
The video shows how parts of the road have crumbled away down the sheer mountainside.
Video shows a group of tourists navigating a jeep across one of the world’s most dangerous roads in Pakistan
The footage shows the driver driving up the narrow and unpaved Fairy Meadow Road from Raikot to Tattu village, with steep drops either side
The footage shows the sheer drop down the side of the mountain, with no walls to protect drivers from veering off course and tumbling down to their deaths.
The Fairy Meadow Road was ranked as the second deadliest highway in the world in 2013.
This is because it is a ‘treacherous high altitude, unstable and narrow mountain road’.
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