Re: Economics and law

[Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Charles,

Based on my experience, Soviet products BY AND LARGE
broke (and break) down a lot. Presumably this
translated into accidents in some cases (e.g. the
infamous exploding television sets). Whether that is
the case with respect to automobiles I do not know.

One thing that has to be taken account in this context
is that Soviets did not use cars very much. The USSR
(and contemporary Russia) had (and has) fantastic
public transportation systems, which you know if you
took the Moscow metro when you were here. Cars were
expensive and you had to be on a waiting list to
receive one. (My friend Sasha Kondorsky has some
chatty columns on this subject here:
http://www.therussiajournal.com/index.htm?obj=29281
and
http://www.therussiajournal.com/index.htm?obj=26375 )

Comparison of auto fatality statistics would have two
problems. First, the Soviet government before
Gorbachev did not release statistics on a whole host
of things. Second, there are differences in driver
behavior. My experience is that a Russian driver will
take it as an insult if you put on the seatbelt, and
the disregard for traffic laws (and laws in general)
is something to be seen.

Here's Sasha writing on cars specifically:


A view from behind the wheel

Cost of Living
by Alexander Kondorsky
>From the day-to-day grind to a night on the town,
Alexander Kondorsky keeps you in the know about how
much bang you can expect for your buck in the Russian
capital.

Alexander Kondorsky
17 May 2002

The Soviet Union's car market was a mystery wrapped in
an enigma. It was full of paradoxes, and even now it
is difficult to solve its many puzzles. For example,
how was it possible for Soviet people to buy 2 million
locally produced cars every year, each costing as much
as 70 months in average wages? On top of that, there
were waiting lists, and it normally took three years
from the time a person was listed before he could buy
a car. This led to the now-inconceivable situation in
which used cars, traded through the so-called
commission stores, could be two or three times as
expensive as new ones.

http://www.therussiajournal.com/index.htm?obj=5880


--- Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You certainly haven't proven based on Chris' anecdotes
he heard from
somebody , that Soviet products in general were less
safe than U.S.
products
as you sort of imply above.

Soviet transportation accidents probably did not cause
as high a
percentage
of morbidity and early mortality as car accidents
alone here.

C
---



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