Still, I reckon Death Road is probably a fair bit safer than the mines in Potosi, or Potosi/Sucre taxi ride at the speed the locals like to drive at, Andes night buses in the less reliable bus companies or deciding to visit a mountaintype viewpoint by wandering through one of the local districts with a camera (Bolivia definitely didn't feel like the worst part of Latin America for that though...). Roads being blocked by angry protestors is a characteristically Bolivian thing too, although they're not at all interested in tourists so unless you're determined to pass the only real danger is to your schedule.
now the time I actually did ride a bike off a cliff was a nice smooth road in Ecuador (I went a little too close to a drain which wasn't particularly close to the edge, went over the handlebars, landed inelegantly on the road and was a little surprised to find no bike behind me... had fun retrieving it from the tree it was caught in a couple of feet below the edge)