When a meteor exploded over Russia last month, it was a gaggle of amateurish video clips that first hit major media’s airwaves and cowed us with some cosmic wonder. Most of those saw-it-here-first clips came from a single, unlikely source: in-car dashboard cameras.
The ubiquity of dashboard cams in Russia can be credited to a general sense of chaos on the nation’s roadways, where both drivers and police are notorious for spinning a post-crash yarn or two in their favor.
Enter the dashboard cam—what was a simple vehicle add-on has become an instrument of justice. Al-Jazeera reporter Charles Stratford says dashboard cams are used by more than 1 million Russian motorists.
So why the need for roadway awareness? Here’re some frightening crash statistics, courtesy of a report from groups including the World Health Organization and World Bank:
–In 2008, there were almost 30,000 crash deaths in Russia.
–That’s five times higher than what’s typical of several countries in the European Union.
–The crash rate in Russia is nearly twice as high as the crash rate in the U.S.
Still not convinced? Here’s a small selection of crash videos (which can put the fright in you better than numbers can) courtesy of Youtube, wary Russian drivers, and their trusted dash cams:
–A truck takes a curve at the wrong angle, flips, and comes straight at the camera.
–A pedestrian’s behind is clipped by a passing car.
–This recent clip involves an SUV, an infant passenger and a few big rigs (don’t worry, this is a lucky-to-be-alive clip that won’t sicken the stomach).
But dashcams aren’t just cataloguing incidents for shock value. They prove to be useful in a justice system that common Russian folk say is skewed against them.
In his report, Stratford says the cams are the newfound tool for drivers who generally have “a deep distrust of the police and a widespread belief of corruption in the legal system.”
This Washington Post blogger reports that camera footage is the only concrete way you can pry claim compensation from the stone-grip hands of the typical Russian insurer.
Dmitry Medvedev, the nation’s former president and current prime minister, said in 2009 that a tragic traffic crash that claimed more than 20 lives was not due to subpar roadway conditions as much as “undisciplined, criminally careless” drivers, some of whom commit “blatant acts of crime.”
So you thought American no-fault scams were bad? Well, try this compilation of Russians trying to hustle auto coverage ploys.
Of course, if a traffic crash in Russia isn’t planned as a crime from the get-go, it may very well turn into one.
Example: this clip sets itself up for some drama, cued by some spaghetti-western horns. What ensues is a no-nonsense fight between road-ragers, cued by some ragtime jazz.
So if you want to take the Russian mentality of “tape first for no questions later” inside your own vehicle, buy a dashboard cam and enjoy the certainty of knowing that, whatever ails befall you on the road, at least they’ll be on record.
And another plus to keeping everything on record via the dashboard? You might be able to keep rewinding to that time your cam caught a force of nature in action.
