Russian drivers

[Borgholio]

So I discovered dash-cam footage of various Russian car crashes on Youtube. It's like a train wreck. All this destruction, people likely getting hurt...and yet, I can't stop watching. If I ever visited Russia, I'd stay as far away from the roads as I possibly could.

[Sea Skimmer]

Well they also have long compilation videos of all the trolley crashes, and Russian airliners seem to be designed like warplanes, with warplane like loss rates. Russian main line railroads seem fairly safe except for maybe when this happens... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zC7QK64Ks

[Napoleon the Clown]

Keep in mind that there's a disproportionate number of people with dashcams in Russia, thanks to rampant police corruption that makes anything the US has look adorable. The simple fact that more people are filming will result in more video of crazy shit taking place.

[Elheru Aran]

Keep in mind that there's a disproportionate number of people with dashcams in Russia, thanks to rampant police corruption that makes anything the US has look adorable. The simple fact that more people are filming will result in more video of crazy shit taking place.

Yeah, I suspect that if you started putting a lot of dashcams on cars in New York or Atlanta or any major metropolitan areas you might start seeing similar events on Youtube. Maybe not with quite as much frequency-- the Russians *are* a special breed of crazy-- but pretty often, likely enough.

[Sea Skimmer]

US has 12.7 deaths per 100,000 vehicles per year. Russia has 53.

Some of it is the proliferation of dash cams, but it is just a damn fact that Russia has a lot of dangerous drivers and a lot of extremely badly maintained roads and unreasonable intersections stemming from the legacy of communist and Imperial city planning having only ended 25 years ago.

[Zaune]

Russian main line railroads seem fairly safe except for maybe when this happens... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zC7QK64Ks

That's unburnt fuel catching fire as it comes into contact with a hot exhaust. Happens a lot with older diesels starting in low temperatures, like this British locomotive.

[Sea Skimmer]

So what's your telling me is you can't see the difference between thick white smoke, and heavy black smoke with blatant metal sparks and flames shooting up ten feet in the air? Kind of important. That's the engine turbochargers blowing up on startup.

[Zaune]

Hmmm. On a second, more careful viewing I see your point.

[Sea Skimmer]

Yeah.... and actually its not uncommon on locomotives, but two engines at once is special.

[Alyrium Denryle]

US has 12.7 deaths per 100,000 vehicles per year. Russia has 53.

Some of it is the proliferation of dash cams, but it is just a damn fact that Russia has a lot of dangerous drivers and a lot of extremely badly maintained roads and unreasonable intersections stemming from the legacy of communist and Imperial city planning having only ended 25 years ago.

Plus, they dont have 100 years of driving culture like the US does. Drivers education is common in our schools and being taught to drive by a parent has been elevated to a rite of passage. So the US just has... better drivers.

Plus we have regulations on how top-heavy large trucks can be etc etc etc that are at least notionally obeyed.

[Darth Nostril]

Well they also have long compilation videos of all the trolley crashes, and Russian airliners seem to be designed like warplanes, with warplane like loss rates. Russian main line railroads seem fairly safe except for maybe when this happens... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zC7QK64Ks

That's still running cleaner than a VW.

[SpottedKitty]

Keep in mind that there's a disproportionate number of people with dashcams in Russia, thanks to rampant police corruption that makes anything the US has look adorable.

I'd heard another factor is defence against massive insurance fraud, with frequent staged or "non-accidental" crashes. It was mentioned briefly during news coverage of the Chelyabinsk meteor a few years back — the huge variety of dashcam and CCTV movies released publicly allowed an almost immediate estimate of the meteor's size and orbit.

[Khaat]

I'd heard another factor is defence against massive insurance fraud, with frequent staged or "non-accidental" crashes. It was mentioned briefly during news coverage of the Chelyabinsk meteor a few years back — the huge variety of dashcam and CCTV movies released publicly allowed an almost immediate estimate of the meteor's size and orbit.

In an attempt to avoid "me too"-ing, I would add that there are some fascinating "accident" videos available online: like the pedestrian who runs at and dives into the windshield of a car (with dashcam). Did more damage to the car, I think.