Dash cam culture

http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/why-russians-have-dash-cams-caught-meteor/

According to a report last year by Al Jazeera, an estimated one million Russian motorists have dashboard video cameras installed in their cars. This is not to capture moments like the meteor flight or even miraculous survivals of horrifying highway crashes. No, Al Jazeera reported that the cams are there to help stamp out police corruption.

New York Blogger Marina Galperina, who originally hails from Russia, wrote a fascinating piece last year about Russia's dash cam culture. Galperina called the cams "Russia's last hope for civility and survival on the road." The country's roads are "perilous" and, she wrote, "psychopaths are abundant." However Galperina also points to police and government corruption as a driving force behind the Russian dash cam explosion.

"The Russian Highway Patrol is known throughout their land for brutality, corruption, extortion and making an income on bribes. Dash-cams won’t protect you from being extorted for cash, because your ass shouldn’t have been speeding. It will however keep you safer from drunks in uniform, false accusations and unreasonable bribe hikes."

Galperina also notes that along with all the posts on YouTube, numerous Russian Web sites have sprung up to host videos of these uncut crashes and accidents and many of the videos are horrifying. It's not all bad, however. "There are moments of humanity among the crashes, in between the skidding, the burning, the kicking," wrote Galperina, "There are dash-cam videos with happy endings."

Delfi wrote:

America should start doing that too!

Exactly. Provided there's a court somewhere that cares about facts and laws.