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Trouble with the Curve
Ireland's roads are really, really bendy
Way bendier than America’s.
IRELAND HAS VERY few straight roads.
Anyone who has driven around Ireland can tell you that, but here is empirical evidence. Irishman Rory McCann analyses map data for a living and got wondering how straight the roads of the world are.
His results show that Dublin has the highest percentage of straight roads, but the west and south-west will really test a driver’s steering ability.
Having previously cracked the Ulysses riddle of crossing Dublin without passing a pub, Rory took on this challenge for a more personal reason.
Although I have a motorbike, I have a slight disdain for Harley’s, and everyone kept asking me if I wanted to ride route 66 in the USA. The idea of a dead straight road for 500km on a motorbike doesn’t appeal to me.
“I like mountains and scenery and little bit of variety, not the rigid roads in the USA. I wanted to see if it was actually true about roads in USA, or if it was just a stereotype. And it turns out it is true, the roads in USA are pretty straight.
He’s not lying:
Rory analysed the map data at evenings over a few weeks and said that all of the countries were analysed the same way.
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