Here's 70 minutes of Russian dashcam video showing car collisions

[Video Link] Joey deVilla says: "Here’s an interesting compilation: 70 minutes of (mostly) Russian car collisions, from mild fender-benders to all-out flip-the-car moments, most of which were shot using dashboard-mounted cameras. None of the video depict injuries; just car and other property damage, plus some exclamations in Russian."

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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awesomerobot

Does anyone have some background explanation about the heavy use of dash-cams in Russia? Is it some sort of insurance requirement (or is for legal use because they don’t have insurance?).
- theangriestdogintheworld
  
  I’d like to know as well. I know that if I lived in an area with such wet/icy conditions and an (apparent) abundance of shitty drivers, I’d sure as hell have a dashcam. Seriously, it’s snowing; you are driving *too damn fast*.
- http://profiles.google.com/greeneggsandsamuel Sam Archer
  
  From what I’ve heard, I guess there was a lot of insurance scamming going on (e.g. slamming on the breaks on the freeway, or reversing at stop lights) and so many people have started installing them to protect themselves from that sort of thing. (I’m not Russian, that’s just what I’ve heard)
- http://codeflow.org/ Florian Bösch
  
  Russian roads are filled with angry, incompetent, ignorant and intoxicated drivers. Russian courts don’t like to take on verbal charges. They do however like to charge for property damage and assault based on video evidence.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  From what I’ve gathered courts in Russia won’t give much credence to a “I said he said” argument but if you have video they consider it a clear cut case.
- Nick Burns
  
  There are two big reasons: insurance companies will find the owner at fault regardless of the circumstances unless there is video proof absolving them, and law enforcement will not investigate vehicle crime unless there is video proof of the act.
- TacoChuck
  
  A fair number of the ones I saw in the video seemed to be from the cabs of trucks as well, so there might be business reasons for recording truck drivers view of the road, probably also related to the insurance reasons stated above.
Sean Nelson

10:40 – what the?
- Donald Petersen
  
  I kinda wanna see where they’re going with that movie.
dawdler

strangely addictive to watch. also note how many are in winter – ice/snow is sliiiipery
- Sean Nelson
  
  Here in Wisconsin, we slow down when the plows haven’t been through yet! Some of the winter driving in the video is downright suicidal.
  - traalfaz
    
    I agree, as someone who grew up and lives in Michigan, watching some of the driving in snow and ice is painful. As soon as the clip starts, I’m thinking “this won’t end well, he’s going way the hell too fast to maintain control in those conditions.”
    
    Lots of people seem to drive too fast in slippery conditions and then if they don’t have a problem, they ascribe it to skill rather than luck, and it catches up with them eventually.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Note to self, avoid driving in Russia and if I have to, never in the winter.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Seems to be a mix of snow/ice related accidents and impatient drivers; lots of people trying to turn single lanes into two, creeping out into intersections, people refusing to use their brakes, etc.
- dawdler
  
  this may have something to do with it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Guy at 5:00 should consider entering NASCAR.
John Irvine

12:19. Whoah. Nice save.
nosehat

Paging J. G. Ballard
rasterops

1. I’m glad I live in a country where there is road rules and good driver training for those who choose to take it.

2. People who dont have the common sense to slow down in bad weather conditions will most likely have an accident.

3. Lack of government funding for road infrastructure? Where is it?

4. Some people just do stupid things. What the hell is with the people walking into traffic?

Amazing video all the same.

Some relevant links are here:

http://moscow.ru/en/guide/trip_planning/moscow_a_z/defg/autoshcool/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVdMIP_lIE&feature=related

The best thing I did when learning to drive a car is learn to drive the car before you go out into traffic. 1 less thing you have to worry about on the road.
- peterkvt80
  
  Me too. I’m glad that I live in a country where the road fatality rate is a third of that of the USA.
  - http://hombrelobo.com/ hombrelobo
    
    And people don’t carry guns in their cars ….
- ffabian
  
  “good driver training for those who choose to take it.”
  I’m glad I live in a country where good driver training is mandatory.
Sean Nelson

1:09:46 – the only funny sort of head on collision
Greg

my take – driving fast in the snow and listening to techno do not mix.
- bcsizemo
  
  They only don’t mix when there are other cars around.
  
  As long as I’m only destroying my stuff I’ll be listening to EDM and drifting all over the place when it snows. (Like once a year maybe where I live.)
bcsizemo

I like the intermixed collection of Arab Drifting and videos from Asian countries…

I especially love how no one uses brakes….it’s all horn until impact.
1. See eminent collision.
2. Back off gas, lightly apply brakes.
3. Horn engaged.
4. Crash.
5. Release horn.

I’m not one for government intervention, but Russia would due well to force cars to have ABS and possibly AWD or 4WD….that and driving classes.

Now where’s the video of these people yelling at each other and getting into fist fights and stand offs.
Palomino

What I’ve heard and stated here:

3. Russia Travel Safety Tip: Pedestrians Do NOT Have the Right-of-Way. In Russia, cars have traditionally meant money, and money meant power. Today, this power gives people with cars the ability to drive whereever they want. On the street, on the curb, on the sidewalk . . . over you. This is no joke. If you get hit by a car in Russia, you may be blamed for walking in front of a moving vehicle. Even if you are where you are supposed to be (walking on the sidewalk), cars may drive right up next to you if they are being inconvenienced by stopped traffic.

http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/russia/tp/healthandsafetyrussia.htm
Payne Hertz

I thought Jersey and Boston drivers were bad. These guys could compete in a bad driver contest and beat all comers, as few of the competition would have the nerves to avoid hitting the brakes. I live in the mountains in NY and we get lots of yuppies who think 4wd means they can drive safely on any surface at any speed, even curved mountain roads covered with snow and ice. The guard rails on the main road leading up the mountain are covered with dents every 5 to 10 feet for a distance of 5 miles from all the cars hitting the rail. But most of these people are from the city and are used to driving on heavily salted roads.

You would think Russians would have figured out the correlation between snow, speed and imminent death by now.
http://hombrelobo.com/ hombrelobo

And interesting to see that nobody stops to help others ….
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Probably too scared of getting run over the second they get out of their car. It also takes a little time to determine if you can make it to the side of the road safely, especially in that kind of environment. Plus the videos clips are so short you don’t know if people pulled over.
http://twitter.com/JonathanSCE Jonathan Yao

31:23, Wow that van fireballed like it was in a Hollywood movie. Also, it’s insane how most people not involved with the accidence do not even slow down when a car is doing 1080′s next to them
SomeGuyNamedMark

52:40 for what looks like an awesome homemade car mod.
http://twitter.com/the_turtle The Turtle 

What puzzles me is, where are all these Russians in such a hurry to GO? Unless they’re actually leaving Russia, I can’t see what the big rush is… wherever they’re headed, they’re still gonna be in Russia.
http://oaksterdam.livejournal.com/ oaksterdam

“None of the video depict injuries; just car and other property damage, plus some exclamations in Russian.”

I say this is patently false. There are several where the car involved more or less disintegrates. And in 70 minutes of crashes – at roughly one every 5 – 10 seconds (420-840 crashes total) – you are trying to tell me that there were zero injuries? How about 1:51 or 3:14 for examples? Or 6:07? That car gets crunched between 2 semis headed in different directions at highway speeds. If that wasn’t a fatality, then God was personally involved.
At 9:02 a guy on a scooter is t-boned by a truck going at least 30. No injuries?
I say bullspit.