IAmA Russian driver living in Moscow. AMA about dashcam videos and crazy Russians

What's the deal with Russians and dashcam videos? Every dashcam video I see is Russian, and the CRAZIEST SHIT ALWAYS HAPPENS. Why does the crazy shit always happen?

Russia has one of highest incident rates in the world. Though it is a very big country with lots of drivers, so shit happens and it is often filmed.

So... can you explain THIS:

http://i.minus.com/isxY6j6IavKLM.gif

There must be military training ground nearby with army drivers making fun of their vehicles.

I guess I'll go with a non-Dashcam question. How is Russia? Have you always lived in Moscow? Have you ever visited anywhere else outside of Russia? Finally, if you watch hockey, what did you think about the KHL with the NHL stars in it?

Thanks!

Yes, I am Moscovite to the bone, I always lived here and I love this city. Russia is not very kind to it's people. If you are not young, healthy, educated and living in a town, you have little chances to make proper living for you and your children. But if you have friends, job and a place to live noone will bother you. I personally don't pay taxes and don't deal with "a system" at all.

I've been in USA (two times), in Asia (Sinapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaisia, India), Middle East and Nother Africa: (Israel, Morocco, Turkey), several western Europe countries and former parts of USSR block.

I personally don't pay taxes

lack of enforcement? how do you avoid prison?

The system has so many huge leaks, they are still busy hunting billons of oil dollars hidden somewhere. Noone cares about the tiny amount I didn't pay them/

Why are you not paying taxes? Do you have kids who go to school? Or you do not use at all other public services?

Public services are intensively put on the payed scheme. Tax money are spend to stupid projects, and social needs are purposedly ignored. Everyone knows the Tzar is sitting on a bag of gold. Without a context it can't be understood completely, so I prefer not to discuss it here. Sorry for that.

Are you familiar with the meme "In Soviet Russia ______ ____ you."
For example: In America, you break law. In Soviet Russia, law break you. Do Russians think these jokes are ever funny?

We think they are! They are like Soviet propaganda regarding USA back in Khrushev's days :)

Russians do love to joke about stereotyped American, the political correctness and unwillingness to know anything about the world outside, but we have no established memes for this, unfortunally.

Soviet era was scary times for me as a child. I'm so glad that the cold war is largely defused. Hopefully it stays that way! Good luck in traffic.

Since 1970s most of Russian children firmly knew The West is a source of aswesome goods, like movies or chewing gum, so we weren't scared at all). Unfortunally, for many older people the outside world is still an enemy. Thank you!

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Russia has license giveaway comparing to almost any Western country. You can get your license after maybe one or two months of learning. Almost everywhere license exams are sold. In certain places you may be unable to pass the exam yourself even if you have good driving skills, because they want you to pay for it. Many drivers are uncertain about huge part of traffic rules, this is really scary.

No law requires you to stop at the accident scene. Most drivers, though, will do. If the victim of an accident is an obvious asshole (was speeding and got off road, for example), many will just ignore and move on ("because it's he's own fault").

Car prices are higher than everywhere in Europe. We have ~30% tax on cars bought outside the country. New cars are often sold with expensive option packages. New Lada, I beleive, is between 5-7k Euro.

As a contactor, I find nearly impossible to pay taxes for income I received via international payments. This is made for purpose, so I feel no obligations from my side.

My favourite Russian movie is Taxi Blues. It's about the time I was child and about people who are like my parents. I find it true in many ways.

What's your favorite movie? Ever tried a russian Mail order bride?

i think for him that just would be dating

I beleive many of mailorder brides were just escaping the very worse destiny. I don't think anyone can judge them. Human traficking, though, is one of shameful parts of our recent history.

I'll ask the question that has always occurred to me: Why are there so many dashcam videos? Are dashcams common in Russia, and why?

Dashcams are very common, at least 1/4 of drivers use them.

The main reason, I think, is corrupt police. They can twist the case, and you will be liable even if you're not, and even you have witnesses.

As many as 1/4? man, that's got to be extremely tiring, that the problem is that bad.

I think the majority of drivers who make intercity travels have dashcams. Less people use them in cities.

There is a lot of insurance fraud going on in russia, where people throw themselves infront of your car to claim insurance money. With dashcams people can prove that they're a victim of insurance fraud.

This is not insurance fraud, because driver's liability will cover medical treatment at first. No body injury - no payments.

But, if you hit a pedestrian and report it, you will: 1. get you license suspended if she|he has even a minor injury 2. go to court 3. get you license withdrawn if guilty

People who intentionally jump on cars are willing to get payed right away. This is kind of blackmail.

Is there any way to decrease your chances of that happening?

Probably not. Have your dashcam always on. In case of accident gather witnesses and make them register in police report (yep, it's your duty, police will not move their ass for you). Hire a lawyer, because pedestrian's intention to jump on the car must be proved in a court.

You might have seen this great compilation of Russian dashcam clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itMdLTd1l4E

What in the name of fuck happens at the 04:00 mark?

Also, what is the craziest thing you have personally witnessed?

The car ran over trolleybus wires laying on the road.

I once have seen a drunk man sleeping in the middle on 8-lane highway. It's a miracle he hasn't been run over. He was taken by an ambulance soon.

do you have a dashcam?

I do, DOD 500

ahh the good ole Department of Defense 500. I keep a gun in my car too.

I keep police flashlight in mine. Many drivers have weapons with them, but not guns. We have crasy self-defence laws in Russia. If a girl gets raped, killing the rapist will be considered as a murder, because rape itself wasn't threatening her life.

So there attitude is ehh it's only rape. I have a question that you may know the answer to. What happened to that cop that was all drunk and was just walking around in the supermarket killing people?

He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Moscow police chief was retired, along with chiefs of police department where killer used to work.

So only stab non vital areas. Got it.

Here was a horrible case of assault victim who stabbed the attacker to the leg with his own weapon. The bastard was unlucky enough to die from bleeding in his car, assault victim is convicted. So - stab with care...

Where do you mount the DashCam?

Is that a front & rear dashcam?

http://dashcamtalk.com/dod-f500lhd/

I mount it on the bottom of windshild. It's front side only. The rear cam has to be permanently installed, this is not an option for me because of possible theft through broken window.

This means you take the unit out every night?

Yes.

Check out /r/RoadCam and /r/PoliceChases if you haven't already done so!

I rarely check them for fresh American footages. All Russian videos there are copies made from originals previously published on ru_chp or similar Russian communities.

The anecdote is: only in Russia can you be hit from behind while driving on the wrong side of the road. Are Russian drivers really that bad?

The average Russian driver has a good skill and follows traffice rules. The problem is idiots who are unable to drive well or intentionally ignore the rules and_not_losing_their_license. They sometimes have connections to local police or have lots of money or just dont care. The system is not designed to get rid of them, so they continue to exist and put others at risk.

Is everyone just driving drunk on vodka and that is the reason for so many wrecks?

Drinking and driving is more or less common in small cities and in rural. I have friends who often drive drunk in Moscow. The liability is a license withdrawal, but in most cases you can bribe the police (bribe will start from $500, which sometimes is monthly income for an average villager). I think it is in a national character: feeling of doom and unwilingness to change the way you behave.

You ever get into a fight with anyone? Some dashcam vids out there show the drivers getting out and scrapping. Russians dont fuck around

Once I almost got executed by angry BMW driver. He got mad because I showed him middle finger as a response to his idiotic maneuver. It was dangeros, because he looked like a guy with a gun in his pocket, so I waited he will get from his car and flew.

Fightings are not considered as something outstanding. Russians may beat each other, got satisfied and return their good mood. This is applicable to male drivers of comparable abilities ONLY. If someone beats the old, or woman, he will be probably taken down by other drivers who see this. Making justice happen is endorsed by the society; and fightings are allowed as an aggression valve.

Are dashcams cheap in Russia? Because I would think someone would break in cars to steal them if they were expensive.

People tend not to leave a cam visible. They are not cheap, prices are roughly the same as you get, because all dashcams come from China.

What locations in the U.S. did you visit? Business or vacation? What foods did you try that you wish you could get in good ole mother Russia?

For vacation. I visited California, Nevada and NY for the first time, the second I travelled from Illinois to Louisiana by the car.

In most parts of Russia we have no good seafood (only preserved or deepfrozen).

So, being Moscovite to the bone, are you pronouncing "Maassskva" instead of "Moskva"? Why every Moscovite doing grumpy face and answer "dont know, i'm nonresident", if you ask them about "how can i come to the Red Square"? Why in Moscow you say "Bordur" instead of proper word "Porebrik"? Why world-best kebab is known as "Shaverma", not "Shaurma"?

"A badly offended St. Petersburg's inhabitant reporting in!" =)

Are BMW drivers bad in Russia also? They're absolutely awful here in Los Angeles.

They are not bad drivers, but they mostly drive very selfishly and don't care about others safety. They are extremely self-confident, also, and often get to trouble thinking "my car will make it".

The most dangerous BMW is something of 7th series, made in 1990s. There is a joke, "Every MB or BMW from 90s once had a corpse in a trunk".

Has having a dashcam saved your ass yet? If so please share how.

Mine still didn't payed off :) Buy what I have seen in other's videos made me more cautios and probably will reduce my chances of getting into trouble.

What kind of car do you drive? Have you had any dealings with the police?

I drive Opel Astra H 2010. Opel is known as Vauxhall/Saturn in USA and is very common in Europe and in Russia.

They often check my licence because I have asian appearance (looking not like "western Russian"). Sometimes they do a "smell check" for alcohol. I have 5 or 6 speed tickets from the last year ("speeding over 15 mph of the limit or more")

How expensive are speeding tickets? Here in the states they are minimum of like 140 bucks.

Mine cost me $10 each. Driving on red is about $30. Illegal parking in Moscow - $150. Serious violations will be brought to court and likely to follow by license cancellation. They are going to introduce European-style fine system, with huge penalties and "strafe point" system.

Wow only 10 bucks for speeding that is friggin awesome. Here in the states it is like minimum of around 140-150 dollars. It is ridiculous.

They will raise prices once they unfraud the police. The latter is not a very easy thing to do, so they keep fines low to lower bribes too.

Wait, seriously 30$ for driving on red? Are you sure? That seems like insane violation and, for example, in Latvia you can get your license revoked +400$ fine for doing that.

Get your shit together, Russia.

Yes, it's 1000 roubles currently.

How common are bribes for cops when they pull you over? I've been hearing stories from my relatives / friends in Russia, but not so sure about the validity of it.

And do people really buy their licenses there?

Bribes are common. Speeding, opposite lane violation, sometimes drinking and driving - in most cases you may bribe the police and go. They are always threaten to suspend your license and send you to the court. Sometimes the bribe is the only solution even if you drive well: speed limit sign may be hidden in bushes, for example, or the entry of the street have no "one way" sign.

So why is the economy in Russia so shitty? Shitty life quality, shitty society, and shitty money?

The economy has been rebuilt from scratch in 1990s. Before then we had a huge, inefficient planned system, which was unable to compete with any Western counterpart. It wasn't able to care of citizens and society any more. At the middle of 1980s many of institutions were idling, the Communist Party lost it's influence to the society and it's progressive part knew the system will crash soon.

Dispite the widespread persuasion Gorbachov had not very much options for his reforms at that stage. Very soon after Perestroyka began, the society, the economy and the political system collapsed, leaving the country with decaying remains: factories not working, supply chain destroyed, monetary system not trusted anymore, social care vanished and semi-independent blocks like Latvia and Ukraine wanting to leave.

Soon after that, Gorbachov was discharged, and so-called Eltsin Family came into play. Eltsins created olygarch class - very few very rich owners of the country. Properties previously owned by Government became private and many of them were teared apart and sold. The 90s were like Wild West, but with industries and economy wrecks instead of gold mines. During this stage, re-capitalization was almost completed. The class of rich was established, and most of the society was left with nothing. Only in late 90s the economy began to resemble something you'd expect to see in a huge country like Russia. Criminal rates were still very high, but people began to adapt to the new system.

In 1999 Eltsin preemptively introduced a new leader - Mr. Putin. He has KGB background and obviously is supported by military. It's unclear if the introduction was voluntary or not. In 2001, he became the President Of Russia and took a conservative course, intended to protect the rich. Since then, not much has changed - most money is made in oil industry and resource trade, and the rest of the society is secondary-class citizens. Very little is done for social care, for foreign policies and country's inner workings. All this probably explains why Russia has shitty everything.

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Common beliefs about Russians are sometimes bringing me in an awkward situation. The person I am interacting with may think something like "Is he that Russian or he is just normal Russian guy?". I am relaxed enough to not be disturbed by this very much. And maybe they don't think it. I didn't notice somebody is making fun of me only because of my origin.

The point is that I see the issue from both sides and you are only seeng one. What really hurts me is an understanding that all these people on videos are locked inside their own cultural stereotypes and don't even know how stupid they look from the aside. And they are not going to magically grow up one day. This is bad for them, for the country and for me.

Why are most Russians assholes on the internet, mainly games? I've already learned '' idi nahui, cyka, blyat'' and hear about how they fucked my mother 5 times a day.

There are several reasons for this.

First of all, verbal abuse is treated differently in Russia than in any English-speaking country. It's not common to say "fuck you (иди нахуй)" to a friend, because it's very rude. And noone will joke about your mother unless he is going to have a serious fight. Young boys think they can exploit the forbidden language on the Internet, and they believe using Engligh is a special cool (mostly because they can't write anything else). This is not something special, they just have dirty mouths.

The other reason is xenophobia. It is encouraged amoung young people, and this is sad and shameful fact. Many Russians believe their country is special for many reasons and the outside world is too weird to deal with it in a polite way. Swearing in this case is a magical invocation act, intended to keep you distant. Sometimes they are just confused to play with foreigners. They think swearing will make them seem more mature.

How popular is Dota 2 in Russia?

How much do movie DVDs cost in the street?

Never heard about Dota 2.

I haven't seen a DVD on a street for a long time.

OMG how did i miss this Ama?!?! Please tell me this thread iis still active ...so many questions

I am ready to answer, you're welcome.

1)are Russians aware of their reputation for basically being rasputins?...basically the kind of people who fall out buildings and survive.

I can't say for all Russians. I am aware. Some of my friends are aware. Many Russian internet users are aware. But many people are still living in the USSR in their minds (in a bad version, of course) and are not aware YouTube exists. Some (mostly young) citizens are agressively refusing the fact the current image of Russia isn't matching one from previous century. Some think the image is good enough. But most just don't care.

Is it a source of pride or shame? And next question. What do Russians consider "cold"?

It is a shame for me and many of Russians I know. I believe pieces of old-fashion Russian and Soviet culture suvived in people, but most of it is destroyed by barbarians we let create from ourselves.

Depends on your tolerance to cold. My lower margin lies at -25 Celsius (-13 Farenheit). In the Siberia it's a very mild winter temperature. I love winter and summer, but hate mid-seasons, when temperature dances around 0 Celsius.

You've been to Siberia? How do people live there? Do they just laugh at the cold? I'm seriously fascinated by this.

I've never been in Siberia, but I have friends in Moscow who moved from Siberia. Noone of them is considering moving back. But you're getting used to every region's conditions, especially if you're born in that area. Siberian people are known for firmness and practicalness. Severe weather is making them stronger probably.

re: the reason so many Russians have dashcams, is it fair to say there are a lot more scammers per capita in Russia than other countries?

They system is decayed. Attempts to do business honestly are unlikely to succeed. I think some of African, Asian and South American countries are corrupt in the same way and in comparable level. Rich is another word for "to be right"

to be a bit unfair, Russians living in the US seem to be into scamming also. Cheating on their cable service. There is news from time to time of Russians in NYC involved in medicaid fraud. My brother in law, a NYC detective, had unkind things to say about the Russians living in Brighton Beach.

Many people won't resist temptation to cheat. This may be explained by the habit to make profit of Soviet system, which had a "planned" economy, no private businesses at all and often foolish resource allocation. It wasn't considered "bad" to take shared goods or steal from work, because work often produced nothing and goods weren't used by anyone.

Ever heard this joke?

"If you aren't stealing from the government, you are stealing from yourself!"

I used to have some friends in Czech republic, and they would bring this up when talking about life under the regime back in the 70's and 80's.

Czech people had special reasons to hate USSR. They obviously had to perceive stealing from goverment as liberation act.

I never understand Russia. You would think with all that land the people would spread out and families would be self reliant, living on their own plots of land. The self reliance breeding a sense of honesty like you see in the American heartland. How does that not happen? Is it just too cold for people to move out of the cities?

Russia restored de-facto serfdom in 1920s, only 60 years after it's previous version was cancelled, and kept it until 1960s. Even after this in USSR noone could get income by working for himself. Russia has no tradition of creating businesses of any kind, for many of us to be employed is the only way to make living. In spite of this, there is huge progress in the last decade. We are hoping to see more small profitable businesses.

How much does the average dashcam cost over there?

I bought mine for ~$120

A bit off-topic, but I also have seen a LOT of very crazy and violent subway accidents in Moscow. Is this typical?

They do happen, but not very often. Moscow's Metro is a huge transportation network, each day it carries millions of people. This volume implies something will happen sooner or later. People fall to rails, get robbed or attacked, as everywhere. But I've used it for decades and I can't remember encountering anything brutal. Once an old woman died in front of me, this was shocking. I'd say LA's subway looks much more dangerous than Moscows metro.

How expensive are speeding tickets?

See my answer here http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/17ds8h/iama_russian_driver_living_in_moscow_ama_about/c84ljg4 Speeding over ~40 mph (60 kmph) of the limit is $70 OR licence suspension for 4-6 months.

Road police makes good money in bribes, sometimes they have "road work, slow down" sign in the bushes, or use the ajusted radar system. It is hard to get back your license, especially if you travelling far from home, the majority of drivers prefers to pay in place.

Do you keep bribe money in your wallet just in case?

I always have some. Even if you're not a reckless driver at all, you always have a chance to get in ambush. It is often an ambiguous road sign. You think you can go, police says you're on the opposite lane. You pay or go to the court, which is likely to withdraw you license.

Один вопрошь, how are rules on a roundabout? Who gives road to who?

Отвечаю, by default the vehicle entering the roundabout has a priority over vehicles already on it. Exiting traffic must yield by default.

If roundabout sign is accompanied by "yield" sign, everything is vice versa.

This is not an easy thing to remember, especially because they introduced roundabout yield scheme recently, so there is chaos almost always.

some time ago, I've been told to look up "russian tunnel" and "russian bridge" on youtube. crazy stuff. have you seen those and how come they're not either fixed or closed?

You mean this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wO2sApvTXc

This is my routine way to my friends who live at north of the city, I've never seen an accident inside. The thing is long as hell and I always feel relieved when leaving it. A couple times I was stuck in jam inside, the air gets bad very soon and it is hot and everyone gets paranoid. I always check for traffic jams before going there.

Is there a specific reason why so many Russians vacation in Antalya? Also, were people happier in the days of the soviet union compared to today?

Some places have established partnerships with Russian travel operators. This includes seasonal hotel wholesale and charter flights, so prices become affordable to most of Russians. Very small part of Russian tourists travel by themselves.

In Russia are Dash-cams required?

No. Actually, court may reject your footage because it's not a valid proof.

Interesting.... How can an unedited video not be corroborating evidence?

The law only mentions police cameras, which must be government certified devices. If you have Chinese dashcam they will say the footage is not valid, because the device is not certified. Checkmate.

What if your dash cam is the same as police camera?

I thought the USA laws were f*** up, Mother Russia makes the US look like a playground.

They will probably sue you for illegally obtaining it.

Video proof of an accident is not enough?

What does it take to prove things there? Taking the judge back in time I would guess.

See: Red alert 3

They may say it's setup, the video was edited, or you don't have the original SD card (to check the date). There is still no formal requirements for digital proofs.

What are the laws about seat belts in Russia? I've noticed that most people don't bother to fasten their seat belt, and in several Russian cars, when I was sitting in the back, I tried to fasten my seat belt (I do this automatically, I don't even think about it) until I remembered that it does not exist.

Also, is using your phone while driving theoretically forbidden? (Obviously people don't care if it is.) I'm amazed by marshrutka drivers who can drive their bus, talk on the phone and handle money at the same time.

Not using the belt if the vehicle is equipped with one will result in ~$20 fine. It's widely believed among Lada and VAZ drivers that it's better not to use belt and be thrown to the road through windshield than to be stuck in a wrecked car and burn alive. Every old and "experienced" Lada driver has a story about this. In fact, not using belts is, I believe, the reason #1 of all fatal conditions in Russian incidents.

I always use belt, and require all my passengers to use it. Most of them don't understand why and this is sad.

Using phone is forbidden, but everyone is using it. I haven't seen many incidents with marshrutka drivers, maybe because they always use the same route and get used to every dangerous intersection etc.

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Winter damages roads very hard. Every spring after the snow melts there are holes and cracks in the asphalt. To the middle of summer they are repaired, then repaired again before winter.

I am satisfied with how road services work in Moscow, have never seen such a condition on the road you can't drive at all. The snow itself is not a problem - the problem is speeding over 30 mph on it.

As somebody who is well traveled, is the Russian stereotype of drinking heavily accurate? "Do you drink as much as we think you do?"

What are the laws regarding drunk driving and public intoxication, how much does a 5th of mid-range vodka cost? What are the three most popular mid/high range vodkas?

Russians drink a lot. Most of drinkers learn how to do it right and not get heavily drunk at the age of 18. Russia's drinking culture encourages deliberate style of alcohol consumption. Russians are rarely using the stand-up meal format for parties, they prefer sitting around the table, drinking, eating and talking for hours. If you get drunk as a pig after 1 hour, you didn't understood the whole point. Some of Russians prefer not to stop drinking until alcohol still remains in the place.

You can't drink and drive. The penalty is 2 year license withdrawal.

Half a litre of mid-range vodka costs about $10. Vodka makers are pushing each other from the market all the time, so there is no established local brand. International brands like Finlandia are always ok.

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I am sorry to hear this. Russians are often rude to each other, and it is not forgivable in tourist business especially. It's slowly changing to better, but still not very much. I rarely encounter rudeness while travelling, and each time it is very upsetting. Sorry again, hope the assholes won't stay in a business for long.

StP is known for snobbery of it's inhabitants (and it is called "culture capital" for the reason). The city was built to be imperia's diamond, and this attitude is reflected on it's people. Moscow is an opposite to StP in many ways. It has always been a trading city, built by merchants and it character is simpler and more lively than StP's. While StP may be percieved as a whole, integral entity, Moscow will show it's contrasting sides on every step. The city may sometimes seem chaotic, but it has lots of beautiful places, sometimes hidden, sometimes very available.

I presume the social experience might be more pleasant in Moscow, because it is visited not only by tourists, but by lots of business people too, and it is much more open minded. Taxi drivers, despite everything, are of the same kind everywhere. I personally recommend using Yandex Taxi service while visiting Moscow.

what are your thoughts on the magnitsky law?

The Magnitsky case itself is a giantic disgrace, they aren't going to clean their names for long.

The anti-magnitsky law (the one regarding children adoption) is, I believe, carefully designed to separate pro-western, more educated and wealthy part of the society from "the comon people", who are easily manipulated by TV and press.

As a result they expect to rise xenophoby and isolationism. "Look", they'll say, "they want to trade our children to the USA for organs. And they call themselves 'an opposition'!".

Italian from Naples living in St Petersburg here. Sorry but Russian drivers (at least the ones here) have nothing on Neapolitans.

I've heard lots of stuff about Italian drivers. Friend of mine has been in Italy and he told me the traffic is chaotic, noone uses turn signals and their parking habits are awful. The same he told about France, esp. Paris.

I came here for the explanation to the craziness and stayed here for the replies. I saw a video a few days ago and now I'm scared to drive. D:

Thank you! I am often scared to drive too. But for me there is no much choice, I hate public transport even more. Since the day I have received my license I've been in subway or bus only several times, and I've always felt oppressed by all these crowds inside. The thing I do really hate about Russians is inability to maintain a comfortable distance when we're crowded. When I came to Asian country for the first time, I was impressed how little space many of them have and how neat they are in keeping that space organized and even comfort. When I started watching dashcam videos, I've been horrified many times. But soon I understood: if I can't change the fact the road is dangerous, I will take I it positively and will learn by negative example of others. Now I don't feel upsetted by anything I see.

Is the general summary of its not whoever is at fault but whoever looses the argument generally the one at fault for a fender bender in russia?

If I understood the sentence right (please correct me if not) you're asking, is the resolution issued by the police about the accident will depend of who of participants payed them? The answer is of course yes.

Are russians really as bad at driving as the youtube videos show?

Sometimes they are. 1) You can buy a license exam 2) You (mostly) can pay to a police to let you go even in a very serious violation. Read more in the rest of the thread.

My History teacher, straight up, told us that f we ever needed to know anything about Russia, that it is "It's cold and their mean' . Do you agree? why or why not?

General conclusions are rarely true. At least three generations of Russians were told USA is pure evil while Communism is the only way to happiness.

Climate differs across the country, but not very much. Most regions have relatively cold winter, some have very hot summers and mild weather in spring and autumn. Siberia is given with very short summer and crazy cold in winters.

Russians may seem mean, but only for those who didn't understood the national attitude. We may be isolated or hostile to strangers, but once you're let into the closer circle, we are warm and humane. Russians are holding very high standards for friendship.

Unfortunately, most of population is not educated and have no idea how the rest of the world lives and what the world think of them. We are living on the remains of recently collapsed empire, so here is lots of weird stuff.

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Thank you, but I beleive you're joking! Unfortunately my pronunciation is much worse than my writing, I think it has a very distinctive accent and I contruct phrases very slow.

I learned basic English in school , in high school I began working in IT and read everything in English. Also I had English-speaking employers.

Almost every time there is an accident or an accident about to happens, someone always yells "Bull lee yeah"!

It is probably an exclamation "блядь!" (blyad'), or "блять!" (blyat'), or "бляя!" (blyaa), meaning one's impression of the situation. English relative is "oh shii..." or "what the.... oh fuck fuck fuck!!!"! When used as a noun it means "a whore".

How likely is it that you will get in trouble with the police when going to Russia on holiday. I have always wanted to see Moscow and the Red Square, but if it's going to be a lot of money in bribes and such, it's almost not worth it.

I know tourists are targeted everywhere, but would you say it's much worse for tourists than for natives?

Russia is generally a safe place for tourism. You just have to follow basic safety rules, for example, not using private taxies and not going to outskirts at night. The police is not likely to bother you at all, don't worry about this. Read Lonely Planet for safety precautions and everything regarding your trip. Well-informed tourist spends much less.

I'd recommend you to visit Saint Pertersburg along with Moscow. StP is more tourist friendly, and it's very different from Moscow. There is 4.5-hour "Sapsan" train from StP to Moscow centre.

Are you the crew that find the dead baby in dangerous places?

I have no idea what are you talking about.

If someone wants to move to Mother Russia. What should they do? Should they move to Moscow or St. Peters burg or Vladivostok or some other city? Should one go during Spring or Winter? How important is it to know the Russian Language?

The permament move will require you to establish a source of income, which is not a very easy thing to do in Russia. If you're planning to find a job, the best place for this is Moscow. You will probably be payed 30-70% more than in any other city.

But I wouldn't wish anyone to live in Moscow on permanent basis, because it is overcrowded and to maintain a comfort level of living you will have to settle in the city center, and it basically costs the same as living on Manhatten.

The winter is not a best time of year to visit Moscow. You should go in May or June, before it will become too hot. Vladivostok and StP are both completely different stories.