Russian "Tunnel of Death"

A highway tunnel to avoid the next time you are in Russia:

http://www.mojoflix.com/Promo/Tunnel-of-Death.html

Makes me think there is a flaw in the design.

Good recovery by the bus driver, I thought. Not such a good job by the truck drivers.

My favorite is the guy who has the crash happen right in front of him, and within seconds throws his blinker on to try to get around it, lest he be delayed for a minute or so by human carnage and death.

Doesn’t surprise me. I once saw an SUV flip onto it’s roof and keep sliding along in it’s lane (I have no idea how, it was a clear dry day). Everyone behind it just changed lanes and passed it.

I think I’d do the same thing. It’s kind of an automatic driving response.

In Russia, road drives you.

That’s some mighty fine bus drivin’ there.

Imagine being a passenger on the back of that bus? I’d pay extra!

The truck one is a bit confusing, where did the second truck come from?

What the hell is going on here? Why are people driving straight forward suddenly spinning out and crashing? Is this some kind of symptom of it being in Russia and therefore everyone is chugging vodka as they drive?

Also, that bus driver is freaking awesome.

Crazy black ice in that tunnel?

It appears all those shots are from the same camera, and my guess is that there is something before that spot we don’t see. Perhaps there is a sharp corner and as the cars come around the corner at fast speeds they either lose control or have to react to slower traffic in front of them and the accident results from that.

If you watch it a few times you can see that some of them are the same crash from multiple cameras. Especially that first one where the guy is going down a long straightaway and swerves around the car in front of him before going headfirst into the wall.

The tunnel apparently runs underneath the appropriately named Yauza River. This causes some water to leak onto the road and freeze very quickly in the sub-zero temperatures (according to Wiki, the tunnel reached -38 C in the winter of 2005).

I feel life I’ve seen this before, but it’s still hilarious. The Indian intersection video is even better.

BTW is that tunnel made out of crackers and sawdust? I’ve never seen so much debris from a cement wall.

Its probably ice and car debris.

I’ve been in India, it’s only funny when you see it on video. When your auto rickshaw driver has you 6" away from the other lane it ceases to have as much chuckle factor. I saw my life pass before me many times while there.

I have a pic I need to dig up and post, it’s an entire Indian family (2 adults and 3 children) traveling on a moped in full traffic. Crazy shit.

Tunnel is lined with tile on the wall it would appear, that or there are those things along the side that are like Jersey barriers that are made of plastic instead of concrete.

Seems that there is a dip in the road and then a really nice coating of black ice to see how awake you are.

Bus driver=holy shit.

The second truck? It appears there is another tunnel parrallel running in the opposite direction to the right of the one in the video and the second truck came from the other tunnel, crossing into oncoming traffic.

The cars are made out of crackers and sawdust?

I just keep hearing David Cross in my head saying “tires and skunks.”

I’ve seen that in the Dominican Republic. Not in full traffic, but on what had to be the least maintained road in the world, and they had apparently just done their grocery shopping.

That bus ride, especially in the back, must have been awesome.

The truck one is really weird; the one truck is in the right lane and seems like he’s floating into the breakdown lane, then there’s a crash and it appears there’s another truck trying to pass in the breakdown lane, but the first guy was already there. My only thought was that the crash was already occurring–they were crunched together–when the second truck hit something protruding along the wall and it bounced both of them.

As for accidents… I dunno. I’ve been witness to quite a few and hung around for only a few honestly. The normal reaction is to swerve and observe I guess. If it doesn’t look too bad and lots of folks are stopping and I have to go by I usually will. If it happens right in front of me I’ll probably stop (and to my recollection I have).

— Alan