Russian Trams Don’t Make Unscheduled Stops

At least, that’s the theory. The one thing that makes the otherwise slow-moving tram “fast” is the fact that it runs on its own tracks, which it doesn’t share with any other vehicles. So while cars and buses are caught in traffic jams, the tram hurls its way past them like a loud electric tortoise.

In practice, though, especially in the more chaotic Eastern European cities, the tram lines are often used as an extra lane by all the other cars on the road, which instantly makes the tram as susceptible to traffic jams as the vehicles around it.

But if this video from Russia is to be taken as a benchmark, the trams have a secret weapon at their disposal. It’s called “I just don’t give a f***” and it seems to be working pretty well. And why shouldn’t it, when your vehicle weighs something like 20 tons?

It’s hard to imagine the driver of that tram couldn’t spot a white (well, muddy, rusty white) truck’s rear sticking out from the other parked cars right into his path, especially since he was travelling at just 15 mph. He doesn’t sound his horn, he doesn’t slow down, he just keeps going as if saying “it’s not my problem if you don’t know the length of your own car. I’ve got people who need to be somewhere, and that’s not stuck behind your car,”

That’s the more romantic version we like to think is true, when in reality it was probably just a case of poor spatial awareness on the tram driver’s side that resulted in two cars getting messed up pretty badly. But the two older ladies passing don’t seem to be too impressed, meaning they’re no strangers to tram drivers behaving like anything lying on their tracks doesn’t exist.