Originally Posted by
elcruxio
Personally I feel the switchbacks may be safer overall as they limit speeds and allow for constant engine braking. They can be difficult with heavy traffic though.
Well...
I never felt particularly safe in Appalachian coal country on roads with lots of switchbacks. Too many people (not just coal truckers) would cut the switchbacks wide, always a nasty surprise when you were coming into the switchback from the other direction. Or, because the road was winding even between the switchbacks, imagine coming around a curve with a bit of speed (maybe 30-40 mph) and finding a slow coal truck had just pulled out of a mine entrance
And yet, we never blamed the truckers. Their loads were what housed and fed the local population, we all knew that. And which is worse, a loaded coal truck maintaining 15 mph around a switchback, or being behind that same truck trying to accelerate uphill (hah!) from a 5 mph corner?