why do russians drink vodka?

[22-250jock]

guess if i had to drive in russia, i'd certainly want more than one drink.................

or perhaps these drivers have had just a little tooooooooooo........much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C_yVh-OqYw

jock

[chas]

No wonder dash cams seem to be very popular.
That wagon driver at 7:30 minutes

[22-250jock]

obviously wasnt wearing a seat belt

shocking

[Mr Q]

I don't consume alcohol but my educated guess is due to their economy being so bad, potatoes are a common crop and I assume potatoes give them the most bang for their rubels.

After looking at a few dash mounted cam videos on the web and finding out that they do this for providing proof of their innocence in the way to many car accidents in Russia.

And I thought the US had a drunk driving problem - hell, wer'e angles compared to them drunk driving ruskies

[phoenix]

I've spent a fair bit of time in Russia and some of the other former Soviet Union countries over the last 15 years and I have the following observations about vodka.
Vodka is king - nothing happens without vodka - it's like the oil in your car engine - no vodka no go and certainly no chance of doing business with a Russian unless you and he have got blind drunk together drinking vodka.
In restaurants there are typically 2 pages listing the food (which is uniformly crap) and 3 or more pages listing different brands of vodka
Go to the supermarket and there are more aisles filled with vodka than food.
In a bar or restaurant you order vodka by weight not volume - eg you might order a 400 gramme flask and 4 glasses, and you always have food with vodka, even if it's only slices of cucumber or some other vegetable
Every year in Russia hundreds of people die from drinking cheap home made "vodka" which turns out to be methanol (which is poisonous) rather than ethanol (which is alcohol).
You can make vodka from almost anything, not just potatoes (think "hooch" in the USA)
Whilst it's true their economy is not great, it really doesn't matter. Even if it were the richest country in the world, they'd still be hooked on vodka - it is so deeply embeddded in their culture

The dashcams are popular because it provides evidence which the police can't ignore and means it's more likely that you insurance company will pay out when you're involved in an accident.

The road death toll is horrendous. In the UK the average number of people killed on our roads each year is around 3500 and it's been around that figure for many years, despite the number of cars on the road continuing to increase. In 2008 in Kazakhstan, which is a country the size of Western Europe, but with a population of only 8 million people, there were 20000 people killed on the roads (including pedestrians). The single biggest cause of those road deaths is vodka.

Cheers

Bruce

[rodp]

Bruce

with a population of only 8 million people, there were 20000 people killed on the roads (including pedestrians). The single biggest cause of those road deaths is vodka.

Makes you think we should be sending vodka to these third world muslim countries instead of aid doesn't it

[Gloop]

Didn't like the bike crashes at all. Feic that.
On a lighter note. Don't the Russian have such a sexy language?

[sedstar]

When you live an hour out of a big city, to people out of your area... its how they reference your location. For me, its the big city to the north... we are thought of as the "pittsburgh area" all around it.

this area is pretty much famous for crazy driving. I thought it was just ME growing up, everyone drives crazy... but no, as i got older i would hear about driving in THIS area from people all over my country, lol...

We are SO crazy about driving around here? Theres a world wide phrase... "Pittsburgh left". It refers to the SAGE wisdom of making left hand turn... from the far RIGHT lane, when raining, cutting everyone one else off makign them all fishtail around you.

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i never really KNEW what a "pittsburgh left" really was, which was funny i grew up i the general area. On my other forum, a lawyer was here on business, he agreed driving here was NUTS. (he explained what a pittsburgh left was, and how HE found out its called that)

hes a bit of a globetrotter, he was in CAIRO. Now, in CAIRO Egypt? There;s pretty much no rules... its every man for himself driving. No lines, no lights, no signs. Traffic goes... wherever it goes. If you wreck? They apparently assign FAULT by determining who "got there first". meaning, if theres about to be a wreck? Everyone punches the gas pedal, so they are "winning" when the wreck occurs, and its not their "fault".

so... in THIS crazy place? The guy is in a TAXI CAB, and apparently the taxi cab drivers in CAIRO are somewhat famous for driving like lunatics in the first place. Someone made a left hand turn up ahead, cut of like 3 other lanes from the far right lane, caused fishtailing and a pile up.

The cab driver... in CAIRO says in heavily accented english...

"Look at crazy A$$h()le, he make pittsburgh left !"

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When a cairo taxi cab driver, uses your areas name to refer to a complete lunatic driving stunt... that pretty much sums it all up.