The scariest – and safest – places in the world to hire a car
From traffic deaths and road quality to urban congestion, we’ve crunched the numbers to reveal the safest and scariest options for a trip
You know the deal: you pick up the hire car, take a deep breath, drive out of the airport and quickly discover what you’re dealing with. In some countries, it’s five-lane motorways featuring impromptu animal crossings and the odd pedestrian; in others it’s serene stretches of smooth tarmac without another car in sight. But how do you know where the best and worst places in the world are to get behind the wheel? We crunched the data for some of the world’s most popular destinations to find out.
The scary
South Africa
Last month this country made the headlines when a German tourist was shot dead after refusing to hand over his hire car on a journey in the Kruger National Park. The dangers of driving in South Africa are increasing: Carjackings rose 19.7 per cent year-on-year in the period between January and March while, during January 2022 alone, there were 774 fatalities on South Africa’s roads (to put that in perspective, that’s around half the deaths on UK roads for the whole of 2021).
On some of the most notorious routes, such as those in Cape Town’s sprawling shanty suburb of Khayelitsha, police officers even caution motorists against stopping at red lights. Meanwhile, a relaxed attitude to drink-driving means many accidents are caused by intoxicated motorists and intensified by a lack of seatbelt use.
It’s a shame for travellers, because cheap petrol and car hire coupled with good roads have traditionally made South Africa great driving territory. Just outside Cape Town, the empty routes of the Winelands cut through hilly vineyards made gold by hazy sunshine. Meanwhile, the journey from Johannesburg to the Kruger National Park is unexpectedly scenic, with soaring mountain passes, deserted valleys and sleepy towns where the only interruption to the balmy stillness comes from violet squiggles of nodding jacaranda trees.
Telegraph correspondent Pippa de Bruyn, who lives in Cape Town, actually finds the roads easier to traverse than the busier, narrower ones in the UK but warns: “Avoid the privately-owned minibus taxis in the cities – they’re under pressure to get to a destination and then return to the same route ASAP, which can make them a real menace.”
Though she points out that both road deaths and crime statistics reflect problems with drunk drivers and pedestrians in the townships, de Bruyn has some advice for holidaymakers hiring cars: as well as avoiding city centres, never leave belongings inside a parked vehicle and don’t drive at night (when lorries on the roads make overtaking a worrying prospect).
Thailand
South Africa’s road deaths are high, but those in Thailand are significantly higher. It has the most road fatalities in south-east Asia – 33 per 100,000 people compared with just 2.9 in the UK.
The majority are motorcyclists. There are twice as many motorbikes as cars on Thailand’s roads and the country’s forecourts are packed with affordable two-wheelers – but the middle classes increasingly drive SUVs, creating a terrifying mismatch when crashes occur.
Motorbiking is almost a rite of passage among gap-year kids visiting the country too, which creates problems of its own: if you don’t have a motorbike licence, you’ll probably void your travel insurance by hiring one; rented helmets might not be fit for purpose so it’s always worth buying one instead. Graphic designer Oliver Price, who used a motorbike to get around during an extended stay in the country, also strongly advises against attempting to traverse the country’s big cities. “You’d be nuts to ride in Bangkok unless experienced, and even then it’s not recommended,” he says.
If you hire a car here, you’ll not only have to acclimatise to all the motorbikes on the road – you’ll also need to ditch the expletives. Incidents of road rage are extremely rare and the crime rate is low. Just watch out for the police, who are notorious for requesting on-the-spot fines. “Remember to bring your international drivers’ licence,” says Price. “They like fining tourists who don’t carry them. Keep 500 baht in a pocket and politely haggle if the police stop you.”
Though car hire is cheap and there are offices in all the major tourist spots, navigating can be hard unless you understand Thai. Even then, signs can be confusing. “Use Google Maps – or maps.me if you don’t have any data,” says Price.
Iceland
Though it has some of the most snappable scenery on Earth and extremely low fatalities (possibly due to a dawdlingly low maximum speed of 90km/56 miles per hour), driving in Iceland can be a frightening prospect for tourists. And it’s not just down to extortionate prices at the pump and hire car office.
Decent tarmac connects some of the main sites, but there are also many gravel-surfaced routes and a profusion of F-roads named for the fjalla (mountains). Only open in summer, they’re illegal to tackle except by 4X4.
The road conditions are exacerbated by Iceland’s unpredictable weather. “It changes every five minutes,” says Stefan Gudjonsson, whose company Arctic Trucks Experience provides guided tours by powerful 4X4s specifically built for the country’s punishing terrain. “We have nine months of snow, icy roads and all kinds of bad weather.”
In the rugged lava fields of the Highland region, roads only open from mid-July to September and are hard to traverse if you don’t know the terrain. In 2018, an American tourist died after her hire car was swept away by a river and she was forced into icy waters.
“People aren’t informed by the rental companies and they don’t realise it’s treacherous,” says Gudjonsson. As we spoke, his colleague was rescuing some tourists who’d got stuck on one of the country’s more impenetrable roads. “In winter, a rescue can take 10 to 15 hours,” he says.
Though a bog-standard hire car should be OK for on-the-beaten-track sightseeing during summer time, it’s always advisable to get a guide and a super jeep if you plan on exploring beyond the tourist trail and seeing the country’s most dramatic regions. “Never try going it alone in the Highland,” advises Gudjonsson. “Hire a guide and do it that way.”
The sublime
Japan
Forget Route 66 and the other iconic road trip routes of America – there’s another country where the roads are clearer and safer, the potholes are fewer and the sites are more exciting than the world’s biggest burger et al. Japan’s low number of road deaths (3.6 per 100,000 inhabitants according to the World Health Organisation) and high road quality make it a doddle to drive.
Though car hire can be expensive, Japan’s fuel is surprisingly affordable too. At the time of writing, prices at the pump were 87p per litre, as opposed to the UK’s £1.65.
Though great public transport, narrow roads and expensive parking aren’t conducive to hiring a car in the country’s big cities, it’s away from the hustle and bustle that the roads come into their own. “I soon bought a car when I moved to the subtropical islands of Okinawa after Tokyo,” says Kylie Clark, who is Head of Experiences at the Japanese/Nordic-fusion shopping and eating space Pantechnicon and used to live in the country. “There are no trains there beyond a limited monorail in the capital, Naha. And, when travelling deeper into rural Japan, train and bus services can be few and far between.”
Clark’s favourite route is a drive that starts in Toyama where, in Spring, you can motor along roads hemmed by 26m snow walls on the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route, also heading to the World Heritage Site of Gokayama for a stay in one of its trademark thatched farmhouses set in mountain mist.
Roads are clearly marked in English and Japanese except in the most rural areas and a few initiatives make tackling the roads particularly safe: Drink-driving is strictly prohibited (you can’t have so much as a sip before getting behind the wheel). Meanwhile, both new and elderly drivers aged 75 or over have to display stickers on the front and back of their cars. “There’s also a butterfly symbol for those with hearing impairment,” says Clark.
Switzerland
Back in Europe, the empty, clearly marked roads of Switzerland, which score highly for safety and condition (the country has some of the best roads in the world according to WEF data, as well as very low road deaths), are where I re-found my driving confidence after one too many near-misses on London’s action-packed A12.
As you might expect in a country known for its efficiency, roads are generally well-maintained and clearly marked and – though the motorways aren’t worth writing home about – there are some remarkable routes. Among the most notable is the Saint Bernard Pass, an ancient path through the mountains from French-speaking Switzerland to Italy, which passes through a famous border tunnel that offers up glimpses of snowy peaks.
Though getting into a hire car shouldn’t result in a white-knuckle ride here, car hire and petrol plus the necessity to buy a motorway vignette (at £33) do make things pricey. Meanwhile, nippy drivers should watch out for the moveable speed cameras that dot the Zurich suburbs and beyond.
Driving on a Swiss motorway can also be an experience for the uninitiated. Prepare for flashing, tail-gating, fast-lane drivers aiming for the sound barrier: though speeding fines for serious infringements are linked to salaries (with the highest ever awarded coming in at more than £800,000), they don’t seem to be too much of a deterrent.
Spain
For a more relaxed attitude to driving and similarly safe roads, this popular holiday destination ticks all the boxes. With good roads, low crime rates and cheap car hire, it’s also home to some of the least congested cities in the world according to TomTom’s Traffic Index – among them Cadiz, Cordoba and Bilbao.
A wealth of hire companies keeps prices competitive too. There are 18 to choose from at the country’s biggest airport, Barcelona, as opposed to eight in Zurich and six in Lisbon, for example. Fuel is also significantly cheaper than the UK.
All this has remained a happy secret among holidaymakers, which means passengers can amble round the bends of the Costa Brava’s pine-scented, Med-tracing curves without the supercar jams of the better-known (but no more impressive) Amalfi Coast or South of France.
The Telegraph’s Contributing Motoring Editor Alex Robbins elaborates: “Car manufacturers often choose Spain as a location for their international launches, bringing journalists from all over the world to drive their spangly new models. It’s no wonder, really; the country boasts some of the finest stretches of smooth, sweeping Tarmac in Europe.
“A particular favourite of mine is the A-7000, which runs north from Malaga to the pretty whitewashed town of Colmenar. It weaves along the edge of the Montes de Malaga Natural Park, twisting and turning with the contours of the hills and offering up splendid vistas of Andalucia’s arid, dusty mountains stretching away into the haze.”