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Here is a quick story about Russian police from a few years ago. This should give you an idea why a dashboard camera is not an option, but a necessity. My mothe
by sakopov 14y ago
Here is a quick story about Russian police from a few years ago. This should give you an idea why a dashboard camera is not an option, but a necessity. My mother was in Russia visiting my uncle (her brother) in Krasnodar 3 years ago. He picked her up at the airport and they started their drive back -- about 2 hours away from the city. As soon as they got on the highway, they noticed a civilian sedan on the side of the road. The car started moving as they were approaching it and when they were within a few yards it veered right in front of them, causing them to chaotically cut into the adjacent lane. A few moments later a police car comes out of some corner and pulls them over. By this time the other car that cut into their lane is obviously gone. They cops out of the car and tell them that they've stopped them for reckless driving. My uncle explains the situation and tells them that he's meeting his sister for first time in years and would like to just safely get her home. The cops tell him that he can pay them an X amount of rubles now without worrying about making the drive back to the city to pay the ticket. When he agrees, they give him an outrageous bribe amount. He quickly gives them a number significantly lower. The cops tell him, literally - "let's flip a coin." Both picked a side of a coin and they ended up paying the smaller part of the bribe.
This whole situation sounds more humorous than anything. They used pull better stunts back in early 90s. Now the situation with police is slightly more regulated, but it's still just as corrupt as it's been since the collapse of Soviet Union.
- maratd 14y ago> This whole situation sounds more humorous than anything. Once, it's funny. When this shit happens to you on a regular basis, it's tragic.
- coldarchon 14y agoI just love englishrussia.com - every day russia's finest ..
- martinced 14y agoLooks a bit like cops in Mexico pulling surfers from California: you need to bribe but you can discuss by how much... And explain them you need to keep a few $20 so you can pay the next cops ; )
- huhtenberg 14y agoRussian highway police actually tells cops further down the road that you paid up, so you rarely get charged twice on the same stretch.
- dlokshin 14y ago> but it's still just as corrupt as it's been since the collapse of Soviet Union In the Soviet Union you not only bribed police, but the grocer, the mail man, your child's principal, and the list goes on.
- revelation 14y agoThey still bribe principals and teachers. It's expected you give gifts.
- Nichijo 14y agoWe used to bring apples to school for the teacher in America, but never thought of it as a bribe.
- coldtea 14y agoActually, in Soviet Union you did not have any reason to bribe any of them.
- rtkwe 14y ago> Actually, in Soviet Union you did not have any money to bribe any of them. Fixed.
- networked 14y agoThat's not right at all. The people of the Soviet Union had the money through most of the country's history; however, they often couldn't easily exchange that money for useful, quality goods like food, kitchenware, furniture or cars [1] without the proper connections and bribery. Bribes were often (perhaps mostly) not payed in money, either. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble#Economic_role https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble#Economic_role https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortage_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortage_economy https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Товарный_дефицит_в_СССР https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Товарный_дефицит_в_СССР (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%82_%D0%B2_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0 http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js...) [1] As opposed to less useful goods like political books with titles along the lines of "The Proceedings of the Nth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union", which were plenty, and which you sometimes had to buy by the dozen in order for the salesperson to agree to sell you a few more desirable books.
- shn 14y agoWasn't corrupt before the collapse? :)
- sakopov 14y agoApologize for any grammatical mistakes. Typed this up as my lunch was coming to an end. If it wasn't already obvious, the person driving the civilian car was another cop, as both my mother and her brother found out later from someone who ran into the exact situation before.
- gcb0 14y agoMy russian friend made me believe the only reason for those cameras was that some random guy would jump in front of your car on the express lane and then sue you for running over them.
- huhtenberg 14y agoHe joked. This doesn't work with the Russian court system.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoIt works in the Chinese court system, unfortunately. I guess we just don't have the laws to allow these yet.
- gcb0 14y agoHe did have plenty of youtube videos as proof :) or maybe it was just random drunks...
- Surio 14y agoVery ironically, when I was reading your story, the first thing that came to my mind was a Knight rider episode (No Big Thing) as there was also a somewhat similar trick pulled in that episode... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0620860/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0620860/ http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/Knightrider.html http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/Knightrider.html (No Big Thing)