Feb 15, 2013 — The answer is relatively simple. To document accidents and expose scam artists, many Russians keep dashcams running when they're behind the wheel. So, when a meteor appeared in the sky today, there were many electronic eyes recording the sight.
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One of the dashcam videos recorded Friday when a meteor appeared over Russia. (RussiaToday)
Why Did So Many Russian Drivers Get Such Great Meteor Videos?
by Mark Memmott
Feb 15, 2013 — The answer is relatively simple. To document accidents and expose scam artists, many Russians keep dashcams running when they're behind the wheel. So, when a meteor appeared in the sky today, there were many electronic eyes recording the sight.The videos from Russia today of a meteor roaring over the Ural Mountains are amazing.
They also raise a question: Why do so many Russian drivers have dashcams?
Robert Krulwich explained why last December. And PC World is among those today who note that the answer is relatively simple:
"Many Russian drivers install and run dashboard cameras constantly to capture evidence in the case of accidents or scams involving pedestrians purposely getting hit. The cameras have long provided a steady stream of YouTube hits, which are now commonly combined into compilations."
Fair warning if you watch any of those compilations: there are some scary moments; so consider carefully whether you really want to click "play."
Here's one short video of a frightening accident — but one in which no one appears to be seriously injured.
And this video shows "why it's good to have a dash camera" when there are scam artists around.
Update at 11:55 a.m. ET. More On Why There Are So Many Videos:
As Jalopnik writes, "psychopaths are abundant on Russian roads" and having video evidence can be important in court. And then there's this:
"The other side of the Russian Wild Wild West is the sloppy online content policy. In the U.S., we can't really watch anything slightly more serious than a subway fight or one car rear-ending another, as diligent censors quickly nab any videos with bad injuries, too much blood or other overly violent content.
"Russian websites go for the uncut, the horrible accidents-trucks flipping over, people being smashed into pieces and sedans flying up in the air and exploding. Given that television programming is mostly vacuous and heavily censored, dash-cam videos are very popular in Russia. It's uncensored-drama, comedy, tragedy, horror, thriller and educational genres fused into one super-genre of 'dash-cam.' "
Here's one more example. Spoiler alert: The truck driver appears to be OK afterward.
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