# IRT: Deadliest Roads (spoilers possible)



## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

I thought it was going to be a stupid show but I found it to be an interesting tangent on the original Ice Road Truckers. Instead of driving on real ice roads, or Alaska's Dalton Highway, 3 veterans of the original series are sent to India to drive trucks.

The premiere episode "Freefall Freeway" refers to a narrow mountainous road that is literally cut into the side of the mountain, and it's a LONG way down if you don't keep all the wheels on the road.

The contrast in driving styles between North America and India is quite a shock. The worst drivers in the US and Canada cannot touch the kind of driving I saw every 5 minutes on this show.

Nice to see Rick Yemm back again. After Season 1 I guess he wasn't going to do anymore episodes if Hugh was present, and this series he thankfully is not. Hugh's arrogance would just get himself killed (and I'm sure he won't be missed) but he could get others killed as well. Now if only Rick can survive without having a heart attack, since he just about has one every time one of India's drivers does something like pass on a blind curve.

Interesting to see Lisa on the show. Since supposedly India has NO female truck drivers, the producers clearly wanted to bring her to see what would happen. Which so far is a lot of gawking on the part of the locals.



Spoiler



Sad to see Alex pack it up so quickly. After those two accidents, especially the last one when that group or mob began to form, I guess he finally had enough.

I guess a new guy comes in next episode to replace Alex. AFAIK he has not been on any IRT shows before.



One issue I have is some of the technical details. During the show Lisa was having trouble getting 2nd gear on the truck. The narrator described the gearbox as having a "dogleg 2nd gear" but those who know cars can see from the shift pattern that it's a dogleg *1st* gear. It just means 1st gear is away from the "H" pattern and is often found on racing vehicles, and other vehicles where 1st gear is not used often.


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## mycoda (Feb 10, 2008)

Wow, if I lived there, I would have some major road rage to deal with!


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

For anyone with a fear of heights this was almost impossible to even watch.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

For me the crazy part wasn't even the narrow roads with the huge drops, it was all those crazy drivers on the section before that!


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## Big Deficit (Jul 8, 2003)

India's roads are the definition of insanity. A country full of drivers that make the cell phone distracted here look attentive in comparison. It also adds explanation as to why many in my town have learned to avoid the area around the Mar Toma center when services let out. They have a habit of pulling out of the parking lot right in your path without looking, leaving you the choice to slam on the brakes, go into oncoming traffic or hit them. Watching Alex's experience and realizing that many of the congregation learned to drive there explains a lot. My personal experience was a guy making a left turn out of the parking lot across my lane in front of me with maybe 10ft clearance (I chose to slam on brakes) then, realizing he went the wrong way completed a 180 behind me cutting off the car ~50ft to my rear, passing me on the shoulder of the single lane, finally cutting me off again by turning left from the shoulder ~3ft ahead of me at the next intersection. 

You know it's really bad when Rick is the responsible one! I'm surprised that Hugh isn't in this series.


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

Big Deficit said:


> They have a habit of pulling out of the parking lot right in your path without looking


What amazes me is how many people are going the wrong way (and yes I know India drives on the left!). There was one jeep or SUV that I saw going the wrong way around a roundabout.



> You know it's really bad when Rick is the responsible one! I'm surprised that Hugh isn't in this series.


I never thought of Rick as an irresponsible driver. The trucks he was given to drive were all crap (and all owned by Hugh) but I don't recall him driving recklessly in Season 1.

Hugh OTOH is an idiot and I'm glad he's not on this series.


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

Lisa Kelly has a nice website. http://www.thelisakelly.com/ I think she's beautiful and I give her props for hanging in on the Indian road. In her bio she says she's married to a full Aleut Native Alaskan.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I've only watched the first episode so far; I can't imagine how they will top that.


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## Dirk Legume (Nov 29, 2004)

I watched the whole episode just kind of shaking my head in disbelief. From the way EVERYONE in India seems to drive, to the condition of the roads themselves. I found myself getting queasy just watching from the couch. I am thinking there may be episodes I will have to turn off, which is weird sinci I am aware that I don't have to drive these roads


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## nmiller855 (Sep 26, 2000)

It would be hard enough to adjust to the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car & then the gear shift manuvering with the right hand instead of left. Add to that a wooden truck cab & size. I don't think I could be a passenger in a car there much less a truck driver. 
The bridge they had to go over was missing pieces & other pieces weren't bolted down. No, thanks.


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## Fool Me Twice (Jul 6, 2004)

Man, I'm loving this show. I love seeing the North American drivers work together to stay as safe as possible in crazy dangerous conditions. I love it when they get pissed off at the locals and fight back against some of the foreign prejudice and crazy drivers. I was laughing my ass off when Rick and Dave boxed in a wild driver, and when Dave gave a truck load of yahoos a piece of his mind (I wonder if those locals were afraid of the camera crew, or if the crew has a security escort, or if they were just cowards.) , and when Dave discovered he was overloaded and just pulled over and dumped part of his gravel--all good stuff.

Apparently, I can't get enough camera shots of steep drop-offs and mountain vistas. They keep giving us the same type of shots over and over, but I'm not bored with it.



Bob Coxner said:


> Lisa Kelly has a nice website. http://www.thelisakelly.com/ I think she's beautiful and I give her props for hanging in on the Indian road.


I'm a big fan of Lisa. It's great to see her stand up for herself, but tackling that road without a spotter is crazy.

(Macabre thought: The Amazing Race on the Rohtang Pass. How many teams quit? How many go over the side?)


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## Todd (Oct 7, 1999)

I've been watching as well. After seeing the roads over there, we have no right to complain about roads over here. I couldn't imagine driving like that every day. I'm am getting a little tired of them going over the same mountain roads multiple times. I liked the scenes in the city the most. I love how Lisa stood up to that guy who hit her on the bridge on this week's episode. lol What an idiot.


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## gschrock (Dec 28, 2001)

Am I the only one that thought it would be kinda neat to drive the road? Ok, obviously not in a truck, but maybe something like a Jeep of some sort. And preferably without all the idiots driving on the road. I'm a sucker for interesting roads like that, although my wife would definitely not be a fan.


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## omnibus (Sep 25, 2001)

yeah, I have a death wish too! I'd really like to drive a bus rigged like the one in "Speed" on those roads. In other words one that would explode if drivin slower than 50 mph.

NOT!


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## chrispitude (Apr 23, 2005)

Agreed, it's really great to see what these guys go through to bring some common-sense safety to these roads. The incident where Lisa took off a guy's side view mirror over the bridge and the ensuing "negotiations" was especially great!


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## RonDawg (Jan 12, 2006)

Is it me, or are these "accidents" starting to look a bit staged? From the first episode, when Alex had two crashes, the first crash seems genuine, but the second crash had the camera at a suspiciously good location (directly overhead) when Alex took off the door of that parked car.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

The trucks are ringed with cameras. My assumption is that they got lucky (as they did with Lisa's encounter on the bridge).


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

RonDawg said:


> Is it me, or are these "accidents" starting to look a bit staged? From the first episode, when Alex had two crashes, the first crash seems genuine, but the second crash had the camera at a suspiciously good location (directly overhead) when Alex took off the door of that parked car.


If you watch some of the long shots you'll see that they have a high tripod mounted over the bed of the truck. It obviously has a camera for overhead shots.

I'm curious about the chase cars that they must have for the framing shots. Do they have local cameramen or could they find Americans willing to risk their lives to shoot it? The chase cars would be in as much or more danger than the trucks.


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## omnibus (Sep 25, 2001)

I have to say that all of the reality shows are edited to within an inch of their lives.

That includes survivor, the amazing race, truckers. I think my favorite is when they show wild animals in survivor but never in the same shot with contestants.

In india there's obviously helicopter support (first one to spot a shadow gets a prize) there are windshield mounted cameras facing in and most likely a third and maybe a fourth (camera/sound) person in the truck


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I haven't seen an obvious helicopter shot on IRT-DR.


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## omnibus (Sep 25, 2001)

pdhenry said:


> I haven't seen an obvious helicopter shot on IRT-DR.


 There was a shot taken from the top of an avalanche slope. It did'nt seem likely that someone would have climbed up there. I guess it could have been the top of a switchback.


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## MarkofT (Jul 27, 2001)

I think that's pretty much how they do most of the footage. Why pay for a helicopter when you can just buy another film crew and have them be a couple switchbacks ahead and still have enough to pay off the locals as needed.

I do wonder about the availability of helicopters there. It seems to get nasty weather so I'm not sure they would have the option if they wanted it.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I did see a helo shot tonight, about 10 minutes in. The narrator says Rick has crested the pass and there's a helo shot of a truck still climbing. 

Another clear helo shot at 45 minutes.


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## MarkofT (Jul 27, 2001)

The one heli shot I remember was of the avalanche and it didn't look cleared. I wonder if they sent a heli up to get it or just bought footage from the local news or authorities. I haven't seen many of them, certainly not as many as they use during the normal IRT shows.


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## LifeIsABeach (Feb 28, 2001)

Spoiler



In the preview for next weeks it says there are only two days left and only one driver finishes the final load. I wonder what happens. Does someone quit this close to the end? Do their trucks finally break down? Accident? Angry mob? Weather? Something tells me it will be anti-climatic whatever it is. Hopefully nothing to do with Rick's sick daughter.


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## Bob Coxner (Dec 1, 2004)

For those who are curious (as I was), Lisa's website says she brought the puppy back to the States and it's now got a new home in Los Angeles. That's one lucky dog! And, a damned cute one.


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## jschuur (Nov 27, 2002)

I don't watch the show, but I cringed earlier today when I saw a preview that pronounced the show 'IRT (as in 'Eye Are Tee') Deadliest Roads'. Is that some kind of weird branding thing to emphasize on the latter part of the name, or are they trying to hide the Ice Road Truckers roots?


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

Bob Coxner said:


> For those who are curious (as I was), Lisa's website says she brought the puppy back to the States and it's now got a new home in Los Angeles. That's one lucky dog! And, a damned cute one.


I figured we would never know. Hard to give up a puppy that cute.


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

jschuur said:


> I don't watch the show, but I cringed earlier today when I saw a preview that pronounced the show 'IRT (as in 'Eye Are Tee') Deadliest Roads'. Is that some kind of weird branding thing to emphasize on the latter part of the name, or are they trying to hide the Ice Road Truckers roots?


Probably so, since the Ice Road title significantly limited them on locations/road, especially after getting run off the original Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Roads from season 1 by the owners of the road.


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## Hank (May 31, 2000)

nmiller855 said:


> It would be hard enough to adjust to the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car & then the gear shift manuvering with the right hand instead of left.


I once rented a manual trans car in Ireland where they drive on the left side of the road. It took less than one day to adjust to shifting and driving on the left.. luckily, the pedals were in the same place (clutch--brake--gas).



nmiller855 said:


> Add to that a wooden truck cab & size. I don't think I could be a passenger in a car there much less a truck driver.
> The bridge they had to go over was missing pieces & other pieces weren't bolted down. No, thanks.


Now all that stuff -- YIKES!!!


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