With Russians mounting video cameras on their car dashboards in an attempt to avoid the rising tide of insurance scammers, we've been treated to a slew of crazy driving antics captured on film. These are Jalopnik readers' picks for the ten best Russian dashcam videos.
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10.) This Is Why You Use A Dash Cam
Suggested By: crazyrussian540
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: Without the video evidence, this is a simple clumsy rear-end accident. With the video, this is a simple clumsy attempt at insurance fraud and shifting the blame to an innocent party. The body language throughout is priceless.
9.) Front Row For A Head-On Crash
Suggested By: CRXPilot; Junior Cornering Solutions Consultant
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: A few years ago crash testers started to incorporate offset collisions to reflect how real-world accidents were often more complex that a straight impact into a wall. This is exactly the kind of impact they had in mind.
8.) A Different Kind Of SUV Accident
Suggested By: valdaviper1
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: On the one hand, we're not sure what causes this truck to shed a tire — loose lugs? metal fatigue? something left off during a brake job? On the other hand, this is one sweet controlled landing. Kudos to an otherwise unlucky driver.
7.) A Quick Grab In Traffic
Suggested By: chucchinchilla
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: Incidents involving collisions and driver weirdness are not the only things caught on dash cams. This band of hoodlums in a properly bourgeois black Volvo give a whole new meaning to the term "beer run."
6.) Serebro — Мама Люба
Suggested By: Kiwi_Commander
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: Sometimes the good stuff happens when the camera is facing inward.
5.) Scoring A Parking Space Like A Boss
Suggested By: $kaycog
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: There's no reason for this to happen other than a driver with an irrepressible urge for a quick hoon. We wonder if this is just a standalone dose of brilliant control or if that curb can testify to repeated attempts that weren't quite as clean.
4.) Oligarch Street Racing
Suggested By: stockcarwilly
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: Usually dashcams are intended to catch other people in the act. In this car, it turns out to be self-incriminating, although the driver/videographer has a willing partner in traffic-slicing crime.
3.) Double Jeopardy
Suggested By: CitroenBX
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: One near miss is usually enough for most people. Two in a few seconds beggars belief. Hard to tell if everyone's okay — that silver car looks like it's on the verge of rolling — but what we do see is a quick combo punch to the adrenal glands.
2.) Remain Calm, Be Polite...Okay, So Don't
Suggested By: DasWauto - Stupid electronics, I like mechanical things
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: How do people usually react in a fender-bender? Ashamed? Slightly shaken up? Angry, but still at least somewhat controlled? We're not quite sure what's going on here, especially since the driver of the car in front was plainly at fault, but sometimes you gotta go with your feelings.
1.) Yamaha R1 Dances In Traffic
Suggested By: mcholewa22
Why it's worth a couple vodka shots: Every gearhead's deepest darkest daydream made real. Not really a "dash" cam, obviously, but for pure motorized Moscow madness it's unbeatable.