| Since I've never been to Russia, I have to base my information on those who presumably do know what they're talking about. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-russian-drivers-have-dash... In a post on Animal, Russian ex-pat and journalist Marina Galperina offers
a few reasons, which boil down to dangerous driving conditions and the
unreliability of Russian traffic police.
http://www.wired.com/2013/02/russian-dash-cams/ The sheer size of the country, combined with lax — and often corrupt —
law enforcement, and a legal system that rarely favors first-hand accounts
of traffic collisions has made dash cams all but a requirement for motorists.
http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/why-russians-have-dash-cams-c... 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
http://www.rferl.org/content/dash-cams-russia-fighting-corru... Motorists use these dash cams as a tool to help fight their corner
against Russia's notoriously corrupt traffic police as well as
against scammers trying to extort money out of drivers.
And. Dozorov recounts one incident involving an inspector, which occurred
months ago when police officers stopped his car. "He'd accused me of
going through a red light," Dozorov says. "It was enough for me to say: 'I'm
not going to argue. Let's have a look at the dash cam.' At that point the
inspector said he’d probably made a mistake. He didn't even bother looking.
He said sorry and left."
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