I originally posted this YouTube video on one of our other websites, but it’s so appropriate that I’m running it here on JimandJamie.com. Take a few minutes and watch it, because it will give you a sense of what the streets are like in St Petersburg.
Let me be blunt: Russian drivers are terrible. No, not just terrible. They’re completely insane.
Our hotel is one a one-way street. We hadn’t been out the revolving door for more than a minute when we saw a huge, fully-loaded dump truck coming down the street in the proper direction. Apparently the driver just plain decided that he didn’t want to go that direction, because he made a very slow, very difficult three-point turn — blocking traffic — so that he could go down the one-way street IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
A few minutes later we saw a motorcycle coming down the sidewalk straight at us, scattering pedestrians in every direction.
On top of that everyone drives down the main streets at freeway speed. U-turns in heavy traffic are common.
It’s every man for himself on the streets of St. Petersburg. Cross the street at your own risk.
UPDATE: We just arrived in Moscow. Traffic is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Our cab driver was listening to a mellow jazz station (I know that because the announcer said, “Mellow” in English between every song) and still honked his horn a thousand times during our ride. Lane divider lines mean nothing here.
Traffic was crawling at a remarkably slow pace. We actually saw one driver go backwards down the lane meant for traffic coming the opposite direction, swerve into a driveway, then shoot out and cut into our lane of traffic.
It’s crazy, man.
I’m impressed. The shoulder is wasted real estate anyway. Was this you two aboard the wild toad ride? If so, NOW I’m jealous 🙂