I live this everyday in Russia, Many Russian driver have bought their license, they do not know how to drive, they do not care to know how to drive. The car to them is a new toy still. Most did not drive untill the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Good video, but one day they are going to be a memorial on the side of the road.

Drive the roads of Russia, You will find little markers with a a picture of the driver and passengers. This seems to be the way many Russians remember their dead who died on the byways. I have seen many of these memorials in Moscow also, just not as many because of no side areas on the roads.

Good video and your other articles on the subject are good.

Kyle

Those little crosses, flowers, pictures on the side of the road where a loved one died in a car accident aren't uniquely Russian. They are found here in the U.S. Serves not only as a memorial to the loved one, but to other drivers that driving is dangerous and that particular point in the road might be even more so.

There is often something fatalistic or simply risky in the Russian approach to life. Maybe taking chances simply reminds them that they are alive, perhaps it is a social consequence of being told the individual is less important than the whole or state.

Then am I a happy gadfly, if I live or if I die.

Kyle,

Nice web site you have... I wish I had the time to make my site a real blog, someday as 2008 is our transition year where we will live 50% in the US and 50% in Belarus.

As far as driving?

Americans are just as bad, and since I am German born, Germans drivers are just as crazy.

But "generalizing" how people behave isn't a true representation of the situation. Saudi drivers are probably the worst when you look at videos of these Saudi kids doing that drifting stuff, simply crazy... But then, they have the money to waste the cars... Maybe oil money has something to do with it.

No matter what culture or what country, we all have our safe drivers and our crazy drivers. We all have our trailer trash and our productive citizens... We all have our productive leaders like Putin at various good times, and we all have our total failures, complete total wrecks like Bush.

Everyone on Earth gets the same when you looks back 1000's of years. Countries have their economic collapses, and people have their personal growth and failures... the trick is staying alive and pulling back for recovery.

But success tends to make people cocky, immortal (in their heads), and big risk takers.
Be it driving, finances, business or politics, A MAN'S GOT TO KNOW HIS LIMITS, as Clint Eastwood said in a Dirty Harry movie.

I'm a Calgary driving instructor.

I wrote Moscow News in response to this item:
http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20070830/55271376.html

Seems to me a smart businessperson would now
organize a chain of Russian driving schools.

Well that was stupid. Obvious case of male testosterone. Idiot trying to show off in front of another car he thought was hot. Stupid drivers....
No merit whatsoever to that kind of behavior. He didn't even end the show with a victory!!
Still waiting for the next move....
Where's your REAL balls??!
(not that I approve pf such stupid displays of immaturity...)