Correspondent Emma Griffiths has reported from trouble spots around the world but admits that few things are as scary as the traffic in her current home Moscow.
In Europes biggest city the roads are unbelievably congested.
Peak hour can last for five or six hours.
Tens of thousands of Muscovites are trapped in their cars everyday unless they are VIPs who speed down lanes cleared of cars while ordinary drivers look on with envy and fury .
Far from being a help the traffic police are regarded as a hazard and are widely considered to be corrupt.
Horns/Music
GRIFFITHS: This is an average weeknight in downtown Moscow.
Driver: Someone should get out and manage the situation. Why should we have to stay here?
Music
GRIFFITHS: Its peak hour and in Europes biggest city that lasts about five or six hours.
Tens of thousands are trapped.
Some are taking the matter into their own hands as vigilante traffic wardens.
MAN: Op! Wait, wait, wait, wait!
Music
GRIFFITHS: One little fender bender has crippled this intersection for hours.
Driver: The same thing happens all day long when you leave your work at 6pm same procedures. Its awful. But I just wonder where our officials are?
GRIFFITHS: Theyre stuck in the traffic, too.
Music
GRIFFITHS: This is when a city 4WD comes into its own.
When passengers may as well enjoy a drink;And when pedestrians have the upper hand. Even an ambulance has little right of way in this mess.
Driver: The police arent looking after it at all.
Look whats going on.
Music
GRIFFITHS: A lone policeman finally arrives. The traffic waits while he measures the scene of the accident. For Muscovites - its another black mark against the name of this citys most despised people the traffic police.
Music
GRIFFITHS: Its Alexander Dekans dream job. Hes a ieutenant; his father is the commander in chief. Hes been authorised to show us in his bosss words the heroic work of the traffic policeman. Its a busy job in a city teeming with eleven million people even more on a weekday.
Alexander: Id say intelligent people would mark our work as not bad. Its mostly those who break the rules and dont want to take responsibility for the violation who are discontented.
GRIFFITHS: Lieutenant Dekan checks documents and when theyre not in order he writes up a ticket.
This man cops a fifty rouble or two dollar fifty fine.
Alexander: So, comrade driver, you have to leave the centre. Driving is only permitted here from 10pm til 7am. Is that clear?
GRIFFITHS: But perhaps the biggest punishment was the half an hour lost from his working day.
Music
GRIFFITHS: At the Russian parliament one man is waging a war against Moscows men in blue. Independent politician Viktor Pokhmelkin is known as Russias number one driver.
Viktor: You see, weve already been pushed out, so we are forced to make a new lane.
Hes the head of the Russian Drivers Movement. And one of the few drivers in Russia that Ive ever seen wear a seat belt.
But using his mobile phone still seems to fit within Pokhmelkins safety standards.
Viktor: This is a jungle, a car jungle, where the survivors are, if not predators, then at least rhinoceroses.
GRIFFITHS: For Viktor Pokhmelkin, the biggest predators on Moscows roads are the traffic police. Word on the street is that they are notoriously corrupt quite partial to a bribe.
Viktor: All this in total has turned our traffic police service into a monster with a lot of power. But that power, lets say, is easy to bribe.
GRIFFITHS: One recent survey of Muscovites found that seven out of ten encounters with a traffic policeman ended with a kickback.
A fast-working officer on a busy road could easily double his pay. The official wage is a few hundred dollars a month.
Lieutenant Alexander Dekan insists hes never taken a sweetener.
Alexander: No, I dont think any amount of money would solve my problems. [laughing] I will have a joke. If I was to take money, Id take a lot right? I am kidding. Its a joke. This is not the way one should go. We follow the cue of our president, who is performing great work in my opinion, to put everything in order.
Music
GRIFFITHS: The traffic police certainly work for Vladimir Putin.
This is the avenue leading west from the city centre to the presidents country home. Its usually bumper to bumper in the afternoons but not for him. Putins convoy has a free and speedy passage. Its another one of Viktor Pokhmelkins bugbears.
Viktor: If he heard the abuse from people who are forced to stop for his convoy I dont think he would be very pleased.
Music
GRIFFITHS: Pleasurable is not a word often used to describe the traffic in Moscow. Id choose frenetic and dangerous.
Music
GRIFFITHS: In one October week there were more than two hundred serious accidents here. Ten people died. The annual road toll last year across Russia was thirty four thousand people. There are just too many reasons for me to stay out of the drivers seat.
Music
Reporter: Emma Griffiths
Camera: Simon Johnson
Editor : Simon Brynjolffssen
Producer : Mariana Dashevskaya
In Europes biggest city the roads are unbelievably congested.
Peak hour can last for five or six hours.
Tens of thousands of Muscovites are trapped in their cars everyday unless they are VIPs who speed down lanes cleared of cars while ordinary drivers look on with envy and fury .
Far from being a help the traffic police are regarded as a hazard and are widely considered to be corrupt.
Horns/Music
GRIFFITHS: This is an average weeknight in downtown Moscow.
Driver: Someone should get out and manage the situation. Why should we have to stay here?
Music
GRIFFITHS: Its peak hour and in Europes biggest city that lasts about five or six hours.
Tens of thousands are trapped.
Some are taking the matter into their own hands as vigilante traffic wardens.
MAN: Op! Wait, wait, wait, wait!
Music
GRIFFITHS: One little fender bender has crippled this intersection for hours.
Driver: The same thing happens all day long when you leave your work at 6pm same procedures. Its awful. But I just wonder where our officials are?
GRIFFITHS: Theyre stuck in the traffic, too.
Music
GRIFFITHS: This is when a city 4WD comes into its own.
When passengers may as well enjoy a drink;And when pedestrians have the upper hand. Even an ambulance has little right of way in this mess.
Driver: The police arent looking after it at all.
Look whats going on.
Music
GRIFFITHS: A lone policeman finally arrives. The traffic waits while he measures the scene of the accident. For Muscovites - its another black mark against the name of this citys most despised people the traffic police.
Music
GRIFFITHS: Its Alexander Dekans dream job. Hes a ieutenant; his father is the commander in chief. Hes been authorised to show us in his bosss words the heroic work of the traffic policeman. Its a busy job in a city teeming with eleven million people even more on a weekday.
Alexander: Id say intelligent people would mark our work as not bad. Its mostly those who break the rules and dont want to take responsibility for the violation who are discontented.
GRIFFITHS: Lieutenant Dekan checks documents and when theyre not in order he writes up a ticket.
This man cops a fifty rouble or two dollar fifty fine.
Alexander: So, comrade driver, you have to leave the centre. Driving is only permitted here from 10pm til 7am. Is that clear?
GRIFFITHS: But perhaps the biggest punishment was the half an hour lost from his working day.
Music
GRIFFITHS: At the Russian parliament one man is waging a war against Moscows men in blue. Independent politician Viktor Pokhmelkin is known as Russias number one driver.
Viktor: You see, weve already been pushed out, so we are forced to make a new lane.
Hes the head of the Russian Drivers Movement. And one of the few drivers in Russia that Ive ever seen wear a seat belt.
But using his mobile phone still seems to fit within Pokhmelkins safety standards.
Viktor: This is a jungle, a car jungle, where the survivors are, if not predators, then at least rhinoceroses.
GRIFFITHS: For Viktor Pokhmelkin, the biggest predators on Moscows roads are the traffic police. Word on the street is that they are notoriously corrupt quite partial to a bribe.
Viktor: All this in total has turned our traffic police service into a monster with a lot of power. But that power, lets say, is easy to bribe.
GRIFFITHS: One recent survey of Muscovites found that seven out of ten encounters with a traffic policeman ended with a kickback.
A fast-working officer on a busy road could easily double his pay. The official wage is a few hundred dollars a month.
Lieutenant Alexander Dekan insists hes never taken a sweetener.
Alexander: No, I dont think any amount of money would solve my problems. [laughing] I will have a joke. If I was to take money, Id take a lot right? I am kidding. Its a joke. This is not the way one should go. We follow the cue of our president, who is performing great work in my opinion, to put everything in order.
Music
GRIFFITHS: The traffic police certainly work for Vladimir Putin.
This is the avenue leading west from the city centre to the presidents country home. Its usually bumper to bumper in the afternoons but not for him. Putins convoy has a free and speedy passage. Its another one of Viktor Pokhmelkins bugbears.
Viktor: If he heard the abuse from people who are forced to stop for his convoy I dont think he would be very pleased.
Music
GRIFFITHS: Pleasurable is not a word often used to describe the traffic in Moscow. Id choose frenetic and dangerous.
Music
GRIFFITHS: In one October week there were more than two hundred serious accidents here. Ten people died. The annual road toll last year across Russia was thirty four thousand people. There are just too many reasons for me to stay out of the drivers seat.
Music
Reporter: Emma Griffiths
Camera: Simon Johnson
Editor : Simon Brynjolffssen
Producer : Mariana Dashevskaya