All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S22E05.Dangerous.Drives.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] Buckle up
and hold your breath.

You've just detoured into
a world of peril.

Danger awaits around every
hairpin turn high in the Andes.

- There is no room for mistakes.

It is completely unforgiving.

- [Narrator] And
on the deadliest

six mile ribbon of
asphalt on earth,

[bomb blasts]

beware the fog and avalanches.

- There's really no
second chances up here.

- [Narrator] But if
it's thrills you after

punch that accelerator.

- Trust me, there's
a ton of adrenaline

going through your body.

- [Narrator] It's too
late for a U-turn.

Now you are traveling the
world's most dangerous drives

on "Modern Marvels."

[upbeat music]

A grim reality exists every
time you get behind the wheel.

Any road can suddenly
become deadly.

The next drive you take
could be your last,

whether it's road design, the
elements or other drivers.

All it takes is one false move.

One of the most
dangerous roads of all

of according to many
experts lies in Bolivia.

Part of a highway system

linking Bolivia's capital
La Paz and Coroico.

It snakes 35 miles through
the towering Andes Mountains.

Its official name is
the North Yungas Road,

but those who dare to drive it

as well as those
too fearful to try

call it El Camino de la
Muerte, the Death Road.

[tense music]

Along this narrow strip of dirt

perched over vertical
drops of nearly 2000 feet,

[men shouting]

between 200 and 300
motorists perish each year.

[tense music]

Wolfgang Ziegler

has driven the Death
Road many times.

- The road is as
unforgiving of any road

that I've ever driven
on in the world.

The road itself is probably
the width of an SUV

and you've got vehicles
trying to pass each other.

And the vast majority of
the accidents are collisions

where one of the vehicles
or both of the vehicles

literally fall off of the sheer
cliff that make up the road.

- [Narrator] Since it
opened in the 1930s,

the Death Road has
claimed thousands of lives

and many fatalities beyond
that have gone unreported.

Many of the roads victims
have plunged to their deaths

during the winter months when
rushing water, falling rocks

and fog make driving conditions
even more treacherous.

- In the rainy season, which
is November through March,

the road basically
turns to slime.

There's a lot of
vehicles that slip off

the side of the
road in the rain.

- [Narrator] The
best bet to survive

this treacherous death trap

is choosing the right
vehicle to navigate it.

- You need a four-wheel
drive vehicle

and something that has
excellent traction.

Be ready for quick maneuvers
without over controlling.

Over controlling with
no room for error

is gonna get you killed.

There is no room for mistakes.

It's completely unforgiving of
any carelessness or neglect.

- [Narrator] In 2006,
the Bolivian government

completed this modern safer
road to be an alternative,

but hundreds still die every
year along the old route

as some truckers
still drive here,

including those
that deliver goods

to towns that have
grown up along the road.

- A lot of these truck drivers

have made their
living on this road

and they get paid
by how many times

they make this 35 mile
trip back and forth.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] And they
now share the peril

with thrill-seeking
tourists that flock here

for the adrenaline rush of
the ultimate driving test.

- It's a world landmark
when you travel to Bolivia.

It's like the climbing of
Everest when you go to Nepal.

It's bragging rights
of having driven

on the world's most
dangerous road.

- [Narrator] Thrill-seeking
mountain bikers

from around the world, covet
those bragging rights too.

More than 25,000
have taken the dare.

However, even cycling
is not without risk.

Nine people were killed
when an SUV hit a cyclist

and both plummeted 300 feet.

There were are no survivors.

But a road doesn't
need blind curves

or hairpin turns to be deadly.

Another of the world's
most dangerous roads

lies 8,000 miles from Bolivia

in the war torn nation of Iraq.

It's the stretch of road
from central Baghdad

that leads seven miles to
the country's main airport.

[tense music]

It's a chilling
reminder that danger

can also lurk on
a flat paved road

with no sharp turns
or precipitous cliffs.

During the Iraq war, a trip
on this short span of roadway

seemed like the longest
drive of your life.

As a critical traffic
artery in and out of Baghdad

for both soldiers and civilians,

it was a prime target
for insurgents.

[bomb blasts]

Their weapons of choice, IEDs.

[bomb blasts]

- An IED is an improvised
explosive device.

That's where the threat
takes almost anything

that they have available
such as leftover

artillery munitions,
leftover mortar bombs,

or even just packages
of explosives.

They'll place 'em at
this side of the road,

have some kind of
initiation device

and they'll launch that at
a target when they see fit.

[bomb blasts]

- [Narrator] IED attacks on
the road to Baghdad Airport

happen so often that the
road was nicknamed IED alley.

[upbeat music]

To help make driving down
this dangerous road safer,

the US Army turned to its
experts in Warren, Michigan

at the Tank Automotive
Research Development

and Engineering
Center or TARDEC.

They spent several
years developing armor

for Humvees and other
vehicles traversing the road.

This essential
technology was developed

to protect troops
during the Iraq war.

- The first phase
was add-on armor.

We had to provide armor
protection, not only just the,

the metal and ballistic
metals on there,

but we couldn't completely
close the vehicle up,

'cause folks need to operate.

So we had to also
develop and integrate

ballistic glass as well to
protect our war fighters

against IEDs, small arms
fire and those things

that they had experienced
on the battlefield.

- Initially, we could just
put a piece of steel up here,

but as we needed to
go to lighter weight,

we'd go to an S-2 glass,
fiberglass combined with Kevlar.

And we actually use for
even higher performance

and lighter weight, ceramics.

- [Narrator] For
reasons of security,

TARDEC engineers won't
go into more detail

about the composition
of its innovative armors

or the types of projectiles
it uses to test them.

[dramatic music]

[gun bangs]

- We have a number of
different types of rounds,

both bullets and
fragments that we shoot

[gun bangs]

to see how well an
armor design performs

against those
particular projectors.

We're looking to
balance three things.

It's called the three Ps,

payload, protection
and performance.

So as we add protection
to a vehicle system

that added weight
reduces the payload,

the carrying capacity
of that vehicle system.

It also negatively impacts

the automotive performance
of the vehicle.

So what we do here at
TARDEC is the engineering

and analysis to determine
how do you trade off

those three things.

dramatic music

For years, one of the most
dangerous roads in the world

was Baghdad's airport road.

Referred to as death
road by locals.

Known as IED alley
to US military.

A key part of the strategy
to protect soldiers

was to neutralize the threat

of the explosive
devices themselves.

The first step, deploy troops
in a convoy of vehicles

to run a route
clearance operation.

Their mission, find roadside
IEDs before they explode.

[dramatic music]

[bomb blasts]

On this day, soldiers were
training for hazardous duty

at Fort Leonard
Wood in Missouri.

- This platform that
I'm sitting on here

is what we call the RG-31.

We use this platform as
front and rear security

to our route
clearance formations.

There are some technologies
that we developed

to enhance this particular
platform formation.

One of those technologies
is the mine roller,

and that sits out in
front of the vehicle

and anything that is
subsurface or buried,

an IED perhaps or a mine.

If it's going to explode,

we want explode it
with that roller.

- [Narrator] The RG-31, also
sports a powerful camera,

allowing soldiers to
identify potential threats

from a distance.

How far, they won't say.

And the route clearance
convoy is bolstered

by this battle ready bad boy.

- Behind me what you're
looking at right now

is what we call the Buffalo.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Taller than a tank

and fitted with large
armored glass windows.

The Buffalo offers
soldiers inside

a wide and strategic
range of view.

It also features a robotic
arm with a pitchfork like hand

capable of extending to
remove suspicious objects

from a road surface

or for digging up IEDs
buried beneath a road.

- There are several
types of IEDs.

Some are radio controlled,
some are command wired.

They have to be
aware of all of that,

so that as they come
up on something,

they can identify it
pretty quickly and easily.

Get it out of there before
somebody's injured by it.

- [Narrator] This team
in Iraq discovered an IED

just buried off the roadside.

- [Narrator] The team
successfully unearthed it.

- [Soldier] We got her out.

- There you go.
- We got her out.

- [Soldier] Awesome.

- [Narrator] Soldiers
manning the Buffalo

can also deploy a
remote controlled robot.

- I can't see inside a culvert.

So I'll unload this one, I'll
run it down into the ditch.

Look into a culvert.

If I have a suspected item,
then I can deal with it.

If there's nothing there, great.

I put the robot
back on the chassis

and we continue our mission.

- [Narrator] However, clearing
every IED from the road

to Baghdad Airport and other
roads in Iraq is impossible.

And when they would go off,

the dangers went far
beyond the explosions.

IEDs can create a gauntlet
of sizable craters

that is difficult and
dangerous to navigate.

The Army's answer was a
concrete mobile mixer.

The next best thing to a
concrete plant on wheels,

soldiers from the Army's
230th concrete team move fast

to complete the daunting task
called rapid crater repair.

- Typical civilian
Ready Mix truck

has to report to a batch
plant to receive its load,

to go out and
perform its mission.

One of the advantages of
the concrete mobile mixer

over a typical Ready Mix
truck is that the aggregate

and the pour on cement
remain on the vehicle drive.

- [Narrator] Equipped
with water tanks,

the mobile mixer can easily
whip up a batch of concrete

at the mission site in
a matter of minutes.

Then crater repair begins.

It's a race against the clock
under threat of ambushes,

and enemy sniper fire.

Soldiers finish the job
by signing the new section

of the roadway with their
nickname, The Goons.

Then it's off to
the next crater.

Even if you aren't
driving a war zone,

danger of another kind may await

because when mother
nature has her way,

[car screeching]

all bets are off.

One variable can turn
even the most innocuous

stretch of road
into a death trap.

[dramatic music]

[lightening]

The weather.

On average, more than 6
million vehicle crashes occur

in the United States each year,

and 1/4 are
attributed to weather.

[tense music]

Statistically, the deadliest

kind of weather
to drive in is fog

and driving in it,
could feel like

the most dangerous drive of all.

One with zero visibility.

In this satellite photo,

that's snow draping
over 400 miles

of California Central Valley.

It's an especially thick
ground fog called Tule fog.

You can imagine the havoc
it sometimes triggers

on two of the state's
straightest busiest routes

that pass through the region,

Interstate 5 and Highway 99.

- If you were to drive into
a thick bank of Tule fog,

you wouldn't be able
to see that fence.

[traffic noise]

You probably wouldn't be
able to see 10 or 12 feet

and it's 65 or 70 miles an hour.

If there's somebody
stopped in that fog

in the lane that you're in,
if you're not slowing down,

that's the recipe for disaster.

- [Narrator]
California's Tule fog

has triggered several massive
and deadly freeway pile ups

including one of the biggest
on November 3rd, 2007.

On Northbound 99, the
disastrous sequence of events

was set into motion at
approximately 8:00 am.

- The first car that
drove into the fog bank

drove into it at
regular freeway speeds,

probably 70 miles an hour.

Didn't realize that it
was gonna be as dense

or as thick as it was.

He didn't slow down
until he was in it.

- [Narrator] After
entering the dense fog,

the car virtually disappeared
from the site of the driver

of an 18 wheeler
following close behind.

He never saw the car slow down.

The initial collision set off
a chain reaction of accidents

as vehicle after vehicle entered
the fog bank and crashed.

[upbeat music]

- There was debris and vehicles
scattered from this point,

going back this way,
approximately one mile.

There were three different
clusters involved in it,

102 to 103 vehicles with
18 big rigs involved.

It actually kind of reminded
me of some of the footage

from Desert Storm, the
highway to Baghdad,

where they had just bombed
out all the vehicles.

- [Narrator] The
driver of the first car

into the fog survived,

but two other motorists
died and 39 were injured.

An unfortunate phenomenon makes
fog-related traffic pile ups

of this magnitude possible.

Many drivers don't
instinctively slow down

even when the fog limits
their visibility to near zero.

Seeing no fixed points of
reference along the roadside

can make them less
aware of their speed.

- There's a theory that people
are actually speeding up

when they can't see
their surroundings

and they can't see how
fast they're going.

- [Narrator] California's
Department of Transportation,

Caltrans is trying
to reduce the danger.

[upbeat music]
[phone rings]

- Good morning,
TLC, this is Renee.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Weather stations

and electronic
changeable message signs,

help motorists to
avoid fog pile ups

by alerting them of conditions
and advising caution.

- But an automated system is
only as good as the people

driving it wanna obey it.

We've gotta get the
people to realize that

when they can't see,
they gotta slow down.

[tense music]

Snow causes an average of
150,000 traffic accidents

and kills over 1300 motorists
in the US each year.

Winding through 30 miles
of the Colorado Rockies

is one of America's most
treacherous snowy roads.

- We're standing next to US
550, which is a Colorado highway

that generally runs
north and south

between Ouray and
Silverton, Colorado.

- [Narrator] Partially
because it was built

on the same route as a
19th century wagon trail

leading to Colorado
silver mines.

This section of US 550

is also referred to as the
Million Dollar Highway.

And every winter nature blankets
it with a treasure of snow

400 inches in an average year.

- Average storm is
an inch an hour,

but we can get up to six an hour

with a lot of wind, which
causes poor visibility.

- [Narrator] Poor visibility
and slick icy surfaces

can make a lethal combination.

It's worse on the
Million Dollar Highway

because the road is
narrow, lacks guardrails,

and has drops of up to 400 feet.

- There are some very
steep drop offs here,

and we don't have a place

to anchor the
guardrail adequately,

and it helps not to
have the guardrail

to be able to clear the
snow off the highway.

- [Narrator] The drivers
making this dangerous drive

have to worry about
more than just

snow falling from the sky.

The Million Dollar
Highway is one of the most

avalanche prone roads
in the United States.

In the 25 mile stretch
between Ouray and Silverton

and then south towards Durango,

there's 70 known avalanche paths

making the highway the
highest avalanche road

per mile in North America.

- By far the highest
hazards on these passes

during the wintertime are
the avalanche hazards.

[dramatic music]

We average hundreds
of avalanches

along this road every year.

And unfortunately
we've had people killed

just up the road from us here.

On occasion, there's
so much snow up here

and so many avalanches
that we've either set off

or that have come down naturally

that we have to close
the road to all traffic.

- [Narrator] But whether
the snow on the road

comes from avalanches or storms,

the Colorado department
of transportation's

basic countermeasure to
the danger is snow removal.

And not surprisingly,

this prodigious task
carries its own dangers.

Over the last few decades,

five workers have
lost their lives.

- So when these
guys are out plowing

the snow off the highway, the
dangers from the avalanche,

you just, you never
know when they're gonna,

when the slides are gonna run.

- [Narrator] For these workers,

as well as the motorists who
drive here in the winter,

the best defense against
danger is caution.

- You need to be very
careful and just driving slow

and watching the speed
limits and be careful

around all the curves.

There's really no
second chances up here.

- [Narrator] One American
city has taken great strides,

improving our chances on roads
made dangerous by weather,

Houston, Texas.

Here they are no stranger
to extreme weather events.

In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison
flooded most of the city.

In 2005, Hurricane Rita
forced a mass evacuation

and in 2017, Hurricane Harvey
caused more than 100 deaths.

But to help cut down
on these catastrophes,

Houston operates a
special monitoring

and communications facility
called Houston TranStar

that helps safeguard
its motorists.

It also acts as an
emergency management center.

- We monitor over 600
cameras on the freeways.

We have the four
main screens here

where we watch tours
of the major freeways.

We have over 300 miles
of fiber out there

where we're bringing back
the information from sensors.

This is our typical
weather sensor.

It could be configured
in different ways.

For roadway flooding,
it has a rain gauge

and a pressure transducer.

We have wind gauges, which
measure the wind speed,

wind direction, and
also peak wind gusts.

They also have humidity
barometric pressure,

and that's mainly for
hurricanes and tropical storms.

- [Narrator] Once the
sensors collect the data

and analyze it, TranStar
relays it to the public

via its official website,

email alerts to registered users

and dynamic message
signs along highways.

Whether it's torrential
downpours,

heavy snow or dense fog,

there is one universal
recommendation

from the transportation pros

when it comes to driving
in those conditions.

- If you don't need
to go, don't go.

- The best bet is if you can
avoid that trip, stay at home,

but if you have to get out and
it, you need to be cautious,

slow your speeds down, have
greater following distances

and just be aware of the
conditions at all times.

- [Narrator] Even when
the weather is fine,

a leisure drive can turn
dangerous in an instant.

[dramatic music]

On average, dangerous
roads in the US

take a hundred
lives every day.

[upbeat music]

Making for some of the
most dangerous drives

in the United States
are without a doubt

two lane and
multi-lane highways.

- [Officer] You get to
come on over here, ma'am.

- [Narrator] And no
one knows that better

than the officers
that patrol them.

- You're up here and anybody
hits the back of my patrol car.

There's a good chance
you're gonna get caught

somewhere in between
that car and your car.

I don't want that
to happen to you.

Just like that,
see, just like that.

- [Narrator] An average
of 38,000 people

perish on America's 4 million
miles of highways each year

comprising 90% of the nation's

total transportation deaths.

[car skidding]

Even so, highway
fatality rates in the US

have dropped significantly
over the past few decades.

In 2019, it was
just 1.1 fatalities

per 100 million miles driven.

One of the lowest
fatality rates in history.

This fatality rate is minuscule

compared to the rates of
the early 20th century.

The arrow witnessed
its peak in 1909

when there were 45 fatalities
per 100 miles driven.

[car horn and crash]

An astronomical 40 times
greater than today.

[dramatic music]

The reason, thousands of new
inexperienced drivers in cars

lacking today's safety features,

navigating primitive roads.

But the early 20th
century also witnessed

the advent of highway hardware,

such as median barriers,
guardrails, signposts,

and lane markers that
revolutionized road safety.

- Roadside hardware
has been around

pretty much since the
roadway system was developed,

but we've been able to make
roadside hardware better

and better over the years
by investing in research

and by investing in technology.

[Crash]

- [Narrator] The Federal
Highway Administration

helps test and develop
highway hardware.

Since the late 1980s, FHWA
engineers have crushed cars,

battered barriers and
smashed guardrails

at the Federal Outdoor
Impact Laboratory

or FOIL in McLean, Virginia,

all in the name of road safety.

Their test results
are then studied

by the National Crash
Analysis Center.

[upbeat music]

They used to do all their
crash testing this way,

but now they rely heavily
on computerized simulations

using virtual models of
cars and highway hardware.

They now use real world tests

to confirm their virtual models
behave like the real McCoy.

- This track is one of the
two major impact facilities

we have here at the Federal
Outdoor Impact Laboratory.

Behind me, you see
our accelerator

that allows us to do
full scale crash testing

over a range of vehicles,

ranging some small cars
to single unit trucks.

We can conduct the test
at various impact speeds

and we can repeat that
time and time again.

- [Narrator] To test how
some highway hardware

withstands impacts, engineers
use a massive slab of concrete

instead of an actual vehicle.

- Behind me, we have
the pendulum test.

The 5,000 pound concrete
block that's there now

is basically representing
a pickup truck

which when released
will hit the guardrail

at 25 miles an hour.

[siren]

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] This test
is conducted to determine

how much damage
guardrails can take

before they can no longer
serve their purpose.

[siren]

[metal rattling]

That purpose is to
absorb the energy

and reduce the speed of any
vehicle that hits the guardrail

while also keeping
it on the shoulder

instead of diverting it
back into traffic lanes.

[tires screeching]

The main purpose of highway
medians is to provide separation

between opposite
directions of travel.

But some states like North
Carolina and Washington

have had chronic problems
with cars crossing medians

without barriers, and then
slamming into oncoming traffic.

One solution widely
implemented in the 1990s

was a crucial highway
hardware addition,

the cable median barrier.

These cables mounted on posts

not only helped prevent
vehicles from breaking through,

but also function
like a guardrail,

preventing cars
from bouncing back

into harm's way
in traffic lanes.

Its impact has been monumental.

- In some cases, it
has been 90% effective

in reducing the incidents
of head on collisions.

- [Narrator] But the strategic
placement of highway hardware

is just as vital to countering
danger as it's design.

[dramatic music]

This test car dips beneath the
lowest cable of the barrier

placed on the far
side of a ditch.

By moving the barrier to
the near side of a ditch,

the cable performs as it should,

Even with these
safety improvements,

many United States highways are
still becoming antiquated.

- Highways and roadways in
some of our rural areas,

they haven't changed a lot
over the last 50 years,

60 years, 70 years,
they're still very windy.

They're still very narrow.

- [Narrator] And they're
often plagued by trees,

telephone poles,
and other fixtures

set dangerously close
to the shoulders.

But the Federal
Highway Administration

has engineered to evaluate
the perils of these

and other dangerous roads
with a highway simulator.

[soft upbeat music]

Drivers sit inside
a full sized car

and view an eight
foot high display

with a wrap around 270
degree perspective.

Digitally recorded
images of actual roads

are visible through the
windshield and all door windows.

And strategically
placed monitors

act as side view and
rear view mirrors,

creating a realistic
driving experience.

- And it's interactive.

So when they turn,
the scenario turns.

When they stop,
the scenario stops.

If they speed up the
scenario speeds up.

- [Narrator] The
simulator's motion base

creates the sensation
of accelerating,

turning and climbing
in descending hills.

The goal is to determine how
drivers respond to hazards

on dangerous roads, in a
safe, controlled environment.

Studying their
reactions and habits

allows engineers to assess
a road's design flaws

and correct them.

But the simulator
also allows engineers

to analyze roads yet
to be constructed.

Once trouble spots
are identified,

it's back to the drawing board.

Statistically, the most
dangerous roads on earth

are in third world and
developing nations.

[car horn and crash]

While China and the United
States are near the top

of the most
dangerous roads list,

today, no country suffers
more traffic fatalities

than India.

India accounts
from more than 85%

of all traffic deaths
a year worldwide.

That means that 151,000
Indians die each year,

four times as many as
in the United States.

- Roads in the developing
world and third world countries

have a tendency to be more
hazardous than our roads here

primarily because we have
been at it for a while now

and have worked
to make roads safe

for the vehicles
that are on 'em.

In developing countries,
third world countries

it's a new concept.

- The main issues
are these roadways

have all different variety
of traffic on the same road.

Like you have passenger
vehicles, you have trucks,

you have pedestrians,
you have rickshaws,

you have cycles which
actually reduces the capacity

and adds the safety concern.

- [Narrator]
Compounding the danger

is that hundreds of
thousands of new drivers

take to these cluttered
roads every year.

From a generation with virtually
no car culture heritage.

- In the US and
in Western Europe,

you've had generations that
have operated vehicles.

So people have almost
a cultural instinct

on what you do when you get
behind a wheel of a car.

- [Narrator] Not so in China,

where millions of new drivers
are turning the nation's

growing interstate
system into a crapshoot.

- Today, the Chinese driving
along their new super highways

are high speed neophytes.

They don't know
what they're doing.

They're moving about
they're changing lanes.

They're using their horns

when people can't possibly
hear them, it is chaotic.

Traveling on the Chinese
interstates today

is like being in the Wild West.

Anything goes.

- [Narrator] Beyond
improving the education

and training of its
drivers, developing nations

are enlisting the help
of traffic specialists,

like those that Arcadis
in Atlanta, Georgia.

They design safe,
smoothly flowing roads

based on successful systems
developed over decades

in the US and Europe.

- We regularly develop
simulation models,

which also become
lifelike in being able

to look at the
roadway on a computer

as we currently
have designed it,

we can create three
dimensional models

that we could communicate
with our client.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] These
models allow engineers

to dissect the flaws of
existing roads or highways

and determine how
they can refigure them

to improve traffic flow.

[upbeat music]

A major focus of
companies like Arcadis

is urban intersections.

Globally, most traffic
accidents occur in intersections

and design flaws
of intersections in

developing nations
multiply the dangers.

Many have no traffic signals,
marked traffic lanes,

sidewalks, or crosswalks,
creating gridlock and chaos.

- There is already
so many congestion

that everybody wants to
get to their destination

as soon as possible.

So they kind of get frustrated
and break the rules.

- [Narrator] Case in point,

this impatient bus
driver in China.

The traffic signal is red

and there are several cars
stopped in front of him.

So he turns intentionally
into oncoming traffic lanes

and runs the light only
luck prevents a collision.

Can traffic engineers
discourage stunts like this

with effective
intersection design?

- As engineers, we try
to lay out the road

to properly convey to
the traveling public

through signing and marking
what is approaching them

at the intersection, a proper
edge pavement delineation,

right turn arrows,
left turn arrows

to delineate which
lanes are through lanes,

which lanes are left turn lanes,

which lanes are
right turn lanes.

And then those are
sequenced with the,

the signal phases at
the main intersection.

- [Narrator] Adding well
coordinated signal systems

at problematic
intersections like this one,

not only help mitigate
the danger to drivers,

but also to pedestrians.

[upbeat music]

Deficient intersection
design encourages jaywalking.

And half of all traffic
fatalities in developing nations

involve pedestrians.

- In addition to the roadway
designed for vehicular traffic,

we also try to put in
elements of pedestrian access,

like the sidewalk that
I'm standing on now

will provide proper
pedestrian crosswalks

and signalize free flowing
movements for pedestrians

will get their own
signal phase as well.

So that can safely and
efficiently move the,

the pedestrian safely
through an intersection,

avoiding conflict.

Maybe the most unusual
kind of dangerous drive

is created by drivers
who go to great lengths

to be on it.

[upbeat music]
[car engines revving]

A special breed of
competitors like this bunch

outside of Cedar City, Utah
is pushing the boundaries

of off-roading to new heights.

[upbeat music]
[car engines revving]

They relish the
challenge of maneuvering

highly modified trucks
or buggies over terrain

that most casual off
roaders would consider

impossible to navigate.

[upbeat music]
[car engines revving]

Their sport, aptly enough
is called rock crawling.

- It feels like a rollercoaster,
every single course.

You know, a lot of new
people come out and watch

and they think,
man, this is insane

and I can't believe
you guys do this.

- One thing that all
these guys have in common

is just going on a
typical trail ride

isn't quite enough for 'em.

They wanna be pushed to
do something extreme,

not just go out and do the
same thing everyone else is.

[engine revving]

And you start feeling
comfortable

being at 70 degree angles

up or down and 50
degree angle sideways.

- The competition is different

because it's usually
a rock pile someplace.

And we're just trying to drive
up the most extreme thing

that the course
designer can think of.

[car engine roaring]

- [Narrator] Nicole
Johnson

has been driving rock crawlers
competitively since 2001.

- I think it's really
exciting actually,

to be behind the
wheel of this car

when you're driving
up a big rock,

sometimes all you see
is sky and clouds,

or when you're coming
off of something steep,

you just see ground and you
just hope you can run it out

and not roll in.

- [Frank] Okay drive
forward, three wheel.

- [Narrator] Nicole, like
every driver in rock crawling

depends on a spotter to
act as a second set of eyes

and direct the overall effort.

- Rough over there,
we're backing down.

- [Narrator] Nicole's spotter
is her husband, Frank.

- There's just little
cues that you look for

in the suspension and
the way the car's built

that you could kind of tell
that, oh, okay, we got it

or now we gotta back off.

- Steer me.
- Okay, stop.

- The driver might
get all of the glory,

but it's the spotter
that does all the work.

The spotter's the poor guy

that's gotta run around the
vehicle and pulling on ropes

and stacking rocks and pointing
us where we need to go.

- [Narrator] The spotters
face the greatest dangers

in rock crawling.

[car engine revving]

- No this way,
straighten your wheel.

- [Narrator] Especially in
the all too likely event

of a rollover.

- Spotters, falling down
cliffs and hurting their legs

or their knees or any part
of their body, really.

If the spotter is in
a baddest position,

they could get run over it.

[car engine revving]

- [Narrator] For
Nicole and Frank,

the secret to minimizing
the danger is trust

and good communication.

- [Frank] Drive forward.

- [Nicole] Doesn't feel right.

- [Frank] Drive forward.

There you go.

- You really have to trust.

Sometimes the car
feels really weird.

Feels like you're gonna
roll when you're really not.

And he can tell
if it's going to.

- [Frank] Rear dig
down, rear dig down.

- Down this way.
- Yeah.

Your ass end has to
be that way, Nicole.

- [Nicole] I'm trying, Frank.

- Our way of dealing with it,

maybe we yell at each other.

Work left, go left now, go left.

All the way left, work in left.

- [Nicole] That's right.

- Go right, whatever that is.

But it it's a all, you know,

water under the
bridge at that point,

we're here to have fun.

And that's what about, we
had a lot of fights today,

but you know, we're
smiling [laughs] so.

- It's all good.

- It's good.

- [Narrator] Beyond
good teamwork,

competitors counter the
sport's inherent dangers

with technology.

- Your dangers are really high.

If you're not wearing your
proper safety harnesses,

if you're not wearing
your helmet or fire suits

or anything like that, the
danger is always there.

It's any kind of Motorsport.

[car engine revving]

- Rock crawling is a
very dangerous sport.

We do treat it with respect.

We make sure that we
have the best of the best

as far as a suspension seat,

the strongest seat
belts that we can get.

- [Narrator] And these
modified monsters,

also sports specialized tires
available only for competitors

tailor made for the task.

- These are not your
normal street tires.

These are 37 inch
Maxxis Trepadors.

And as you can see,
just by the tread,

they're ultra sticky.

And this is what keeps
us cling to those rocks

on those side hills,
on those big climbs,

this is what gets us up there.

[car engine revving]

- [Narrator] But it's more
than just enormous tires

that get these buggies
around these rocks.

It also takes state-of-the-art
suspension systems.

- The suspension is known
as a 4-link, as you can see,

there are two
lower trailing arms

and two upper trailing arms.

Those upper trailing
arms are actually

what locate the axle
underneath the vehicle.

And then the lowers
simply provide support.

This particular suspension
gives us great movement up

and down for wheel travel and
really helps us cling to those

hard side hills and those
nasty crawling sections.

- [Narrator] And
specialized brake controls

allow independent operation
of the front and rear brakes.

While most of us do the
best we can to avoid danger

when we're behind the wheel,
these thrill-seekers pursue it

and savor its taste.

[upbeat music]

- When you're hanging off these
cliffs and you're, you know,

looking down, ready
to roll a vehicle

or you're leaning sideways
and having to, you know,

pull an awesome save.

Trust me, there's
a ton of adrenaline

going through your body.

- I think you have
to be a little bit

of an adrenaline junkie,

and I can't think of any other
sport that I would rather do.

- [Narrator] For these
extreme athletes,

the more clear and
present danger may lurk,

where they rejoin the rest of
us on the established roads.

No need to seek out danger here,

sooner or later...

[crash]

- [Officer] Just like
that, see, just like that.