What is it that makes watching the Russian car crash vids so much fun?

[dixiegrrrrl]

My guilty pleasure.....

image how much money you could make selling cars in Russia.
And what IS it about all these head on crashes? Do they drive drunk? Why do they drive in snow and ice at such high speeds?

[Major Nikon]

1. Vodka

[Locut0s]

2. In Soviet Russia car drives you! nt

[love_katz]

3. One of my co-workers is Russian.

He told another one of my co-workers that in Russia, you just pay a fee ($5 -$10), and you get your driver's license. Supposedly, their are no laws, no driver training, and no tests (that is, if I remember what my co-worker told me correctly.) He also said our Russian co-worker said it is the law in Russia that all vehicles must have a forward facing dash camera.

If that is the case, it would explain this amusing (and alarming) videos.

That, and vodka.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. None of the pesky "stay in your lane" rules for the Russkies, no sirree!

Honestly, some of the crashes I see in those videos appear to be deliberate attacks.
Making left turns from the right lane and right turns from the left lane, in the face of oncoming traffic, seems pretty common.
And no learning curve, apparently.

Did your Russian source say anything about insurance????

[love_katz]

17. I won't see him for a while.

His remarks about driving in Russia were relayed by another co-worker. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to ask about insurance. Instead, I talked about a man who insisted that removing traffic signs and signals was going to happen in the U.S., and his opinion that doing that would result in less traffic accidents (!)...which sounded crazy to me.

I have talked to people who have been to other countries where the government authorities are not so focused on safety as the U.S. is, (Rome, for example) and they tell me we would have a great deal of trouble coping with driving over there. Some folks insist this is because other countries have a different justice system than we do, and so it is much harder to sue someone for liability in other countries.

I find myself wondering if insurance is non-existent in Russia, at least for driving?

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. if the forward facing cams are required....

suggests either an insurance issue or a legal issue.

Be interesing to know also..since drivers obviously film other accidents, are they required to turn the tape over to authorities for evidence in the crashes....they certainly see the wrecks better than the poor sitting ducks who got hit.

[pinboy3niner]

4. The real question is...

...Why did the horse cross the road? The chickens are dying to know.

[NV Whino]

11. I was impressed that the horse used the crosswalk

[WolverineDG]

6. I like the one where the guys who caused the accident

simply get out of the car (which is in the middle of the street) & walk nonchalantly away.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. I am surprised at how calm the drivers sound.

Very few of them yell or scream..they just say calmly whatever Russian phrase you say in event of a crash.
There are few scenes where woman are obvious passengers, and they do not scream either.
Nice change.

[WolverineDG]

13. Probably an every day thing

Oh look, another wreck.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. But then again, there are the Russian road rage videos

which feature guys slugging it out in the street because of someone's bad driving.

[Auggie]

8. ROFL ... and a big K&R

[Eyerish]

9. Holy crap & LOL...

It's like they use Grand Theft Auto as a training guide on how to drive over there...

[NV Whino]

10. OMG!

I don't know if I want the drivers' ed concession or the body shop franchise in Russia. Maybe both.

At least I now understand the proliferation of dashboard cams. Did I say, holy shit?

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. Maybe they do not understand physics...

the bit about 2 bodies cannot be in the same place at the same time.

[TrogL]

12. I think it's a survival instinct

You watch a bad thing happening to somebody else so you know what to do if it happens to you.

[Flaxbee]

14. I am convinced my husband and I crossed into an alternate universe on the way to the

airport in Moscow a few years back.

Our friend hired a driver for us; said driver was a former MiG pilot and while he drove the car extremely well, we were going 80mph+ into oncoming traffic.

So I think we might have died, or been catapulted into another universe.

I have been in many car rides in Russia, and usually something crazy happens.

[Aristus]

16. Sheesh! Driving is like a blood-sport over there...

Now we know why the Soviets won World War II. Nothing was going to deter those tank drivers from getting to Berlin!

[Paulie]

18. The fighter jet doing a low level flyover the road

Just wow.

[AngryOldDem]

19. Those were funny.

But then, I'm not there driving, either.

That said, while watching I was struck by the fact that I see a lot of this kind of reckless driving on a daily basis -- people making turns from wrong lanes, driving on the shoulders, and my personal fave, bombing up the middle turn lane when the through lane is backed up. Just waiting to witness a nice head-on at some point.

And WTF is up with all the low-flying military hardware?

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. And WTF is up with all the low-flying military hardware?

apparently no rules in flying, either?

[Turbineguy]

23. Florida

with winter.