With the quick flash and booming shock wave, a meteor burned through the Siberian sky Friday and exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs. The meteor blast has injured more than 1,000 people as it blew out windows and panicked a city of 1 million people. Most of this has been captured on dozens of car dashboard cameras. But a question that sparks the mind is why do so many people have dashboard cameras in the Russia?
“There was panic. People had no idea what as happening,” said Sergey Hametov of Chelyabinsk “we saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud a, thundering sound.” He told the Associated Press by Telephone.
In a country where corrupted law enforcement, and false reports of traffic injuries are high, dashboard cameras are all but a requirement for motorists.
“You can get into your car without your pants on, but never get into a car without a dash cam,” Aleksei Dozorov, a motorists’ rights activist in Russia told Radio Free Europe last year.
With online media sites, such as Ru CHP LiveJournal community, it is easier to show the most disturbing videos of profanity-laden, fist fighting, massive automobile crashes, and gruesome deaths.
But then again, how many times does a dashboard camera capture a once-in-a-lifetime meteor falling through the sky, from so many different angles.