Never drive in Russia

[stefan einz]

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I came across this on YouTube earlier.

It is staggering stuff, absolutely staggering. And pretty scary (warning: do not watch if you don't want to see some fairly nasty crashes. I suspect people were injured in some of the clips, although nothing is shown.)

No doubt a combination of poor (no) driving training, poor road traffic laws, poor attitude, poor road layouts and perhaps above all an extraordinary lack of imagination on the part of some of the drivers in terms of the risks they are taking.

I will never drive in Russia. And when I visit Moscow later this year for work, I will take the train!

[martine]

No doubt a combination of poor (no) driving training, poor road traffic laws, poor attitude, poor road layouts and perhaps above all an extraordinary lack of imagination on the part of some of the drivers in terms of the risks they are taking.

And plenty of Vodka I suspect. There are many such videos on youtube of 'crazy Russian' drivers - as you say, horrendous stuff.

[Custom24]

And the video didn't even contain any footage of that rather attractive lady rooting around in the footwell of her car.

Anyway...

Russia seems pretty middling as far as world fatality rates go, although by any measure a lot higher than the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... death_rate

The reason there are so many such videos on YT is apparently because everyone* in Russia has an in car camera for insurance purposes.

*Probably not everyone, but a much higher proportion than the UK.

[Horse]

Their gritting technique is entertaining . . . unless you're a pedestrian as they pass!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPBiNWIEEpM[/youtube]

[Ancient]

I've seen it done that way in UK (some years back mind).

[Ralge]

I had a pupil two years ago who had spent a lot of time with oil-company parents in Moscow.
They lived in an ex-pat compound and the oil company supplied Muscovite chauffeurs for ALL their transport needs.
Going out, shopping was rigidly planned with no room for staying for 5-minutes more etc.
The logic behind this was very clear - have a bump in Moscow and without Moscow-born Russian you need deep pockets to pay off whoever fancies a pay-day and ending up in a police station would see you pay still more to the head cheese there.
Scary place, by all accounts.

[michael769]

It is no coincidence that Russia (along with the Ukraine) is the biggest market for dash cams. I have heard that close to 2/3 of vehicles now have one fitted over there.