What is it with Russia and car accidents?
Is there a problem with drink driving in Russia? Is the driving test too easy? Is it the weather conditions? Are the roads bad? Or does everyone in Russia use a dash camera?
Or are people just in a major hurry?
Why do I ask these questions? Because it seems there are constantly videos on YouTube showing unbelievable road accidents from Russia.
This is the most recent example
httpv://youtu.be/ErEFpu-tGAk
In 2002, 32,200 people were killed and 215,000 were injured in 184,000 traffic accidents in Russia, the Moscow Times reported Wednesday.
Damages incurred in the car accidents hit 182 billion rubles (about 6 billion US dollars) last year, or a whopping 1.6 percent of 2002 gross domestic product (GDP), said Vladimir Kuzin, a department head in the traffic police.
2002 was the first year the traffic police tallied damages fromtraffic accidents, as part of the run-up to the introduction of mandatory car insurance across the country Tuesday.
“Traffic accidents have worse consequences in Russia than in European countries,” Kuzin was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
“In Europe, three to five people die in every 100 accidents, while in Russia this figure is 14. This is too much.”
Moreover, there are 500 to 600 cars for every 1,000 people in Europe, while Russia has only 200 cars per 1,000 people, he noted.Some 33 million vehicles were registered in Russia as of last year,excluding those used by the military and several other state agencies.
