Friday Fright: Driving in Russia

For his "krulwich wonders' blog, NPR science correspondent Robert Krulwich discusses the questions raised by a compelling blooper reel of Russian driving catastrophes that's been making the rounds. Foremost in our minds: how is it that all these people happen to have cameras in their cars?

"Marina Galperina, who blogs for Animal New York, says "dash-cameras" are very common in Russia. You need them to prove or defend insurance claims," says Krulwich, who, with the help of Galperina, explains the phony accident scams perpetrated in the country.

"The moral of this story? There are obviously better places to go for a drive than Russia. Most places on Earth would probably qualify, but it's the details, the dash-cams, the scam artists, the drunkenness, the anything-can-happen quality (how about that fighter jet roaring up the highway at about 100 feet off the ground?) that remind you, different places on Earth are still richly, oddly, troublesomely, different."