Some time ago, I linked to videos taken by cameras mounted on the dashboards of Russian cars that show crashes and the like. It seems like dash-cams are popular in Russia. I don’t know anyone in the US who has one though there are increasing demands for police cars in the US to be equipped with them so that there is a video record of what happens following a stop that can be produced as evidence, especially when allegations of police brutality and tasering are involved.
Via Pharyngula here is another compilation of Russian dash-cam videos. There is something weirdly engrossing about watching a video knowing that something bad is going to happen soon but not know exactly what.
Although it shows numerous cases of drivers doing incredibly stupid things, these videos are compiled and selected for maximum shocking effect so this is no reason to think, based on such videos alone, that Russian drivers are any crazier than drivers in other countries. But these videos would be good to show beginning drivers, to teach them what can happen if you do something bone-headed while driving a car.
But what I want to draw attention to is what happened to the car at the 4:00 minute mark. It does a sudden backflip caused by a wire that has fallen across the road. I am surprised that the wire did not snap instead. The car getting hit by lightning at the 4:17 mark is also scary.
I have a GoPro I take with me on motorcycle rides fairly regularly. I don’t do it often, or every time.
I really wish I had it on me when I was run over last year, but no such luck. I’m now embroiled in a lawsuit with the other guy’s insurance company, because 1) it’s basically his word against mine, and 2) he’s lying his ass off instead of taking responsibility.
At least I have enough photos (I took, no thanks to the crack-heads on the local police force) to dispute most of the lies.
I am thinking of starting to take it with me on my bicycle rides as well, but it’s just too much effort to try and do it every single ride.
Living in the greater DC area, I have to agree with your assessment that Russians are not any crazier than any other country. I’ve seen more than 1/2 of those issues here. I’ve seen the crazy man standing in the middle of the highway at night just outside of Missoula, MT. So it happens in the good old USA too.
I’ve been thinking about putting one of those cameras on my wife’s car. In my community, we have a big problem with a lot of people running stop signs pretty consistently. Might be worth catching them on video and sending to the sheriff.
Such compilations are a way of reinforcing stereotypes that them (xxxx) is bad and mad. No doubt any country’s cameras could yield similar footage. Personally, I’m unlikely to go there any time soon and check them out. My local drivers are loonie enough.
And the reality tv show canada’s worst driver is in its 8th season. They are easily this bad.
What’s fun about these is watching the idiots bite it!
Also the random car music, especially when it’s something all peaceful and relaxing then >>>WHAAAAM<<<
I think my favorite was the one where the upside down car just sort of floats past from the left lol. (If only Swan Lake had been playing!)
Making lane changes while upside-down is a LOT harder than it looks…
How about drivers in Cleveland going a bit around the bend* then having 26 cops with 24 cars unload 137 (apparently only 13 officers discharging weapons) rounds into the vehicle after it stops?
*After the cops started chasing them for no apparent reason (to them). Because some people worked themselves into the belief that shots were fired at police from the vehicle.
Don’t stop me now! I’m havin such a good time! I don’t wanna stop at allllll! *crash*
I really didn’t want to laugh at any of this, I swear >_<
What the heck happened to the car around 4:00? The one that suddenly did the backflop? WTF!?
David Brin (and others) have written about a future in which cameras are so cheap that they are basically embedded everywhere. So that anything happening is recorded from multiple points of view, making the question of “what happened” a lot easier to answer.
It’s OK as long as you use your turn signals correctly.
If you look closely there seems to be some sort of metal strip attached to a cable that was lying across the road that caught the car and caused it to backflip