In a city like Moscow, where flashyarmoredvehicles and floutingtraffic laws is plenty common for the city’s well-off, you’d think Batman would have no problem at all with the Batmobile. Turns out he doesn’t have it so easy.
The BBC reports that Moscow traffic police have impounded a Batmobile. Built to resemble Ben Affleck Bruce Wayne Batman’s ride in Batman vs Superman (Apparently, at least. I never saw it.), the batmobile rides on impressively wide off-road tires front and rear, and appears to be in excess of fifteen feet long, if my ability to guess based on the cars in the background is worth any salt at all.
A statement from Russian Interior Ministry officials cited by the BBC explains that the custom-built vehicle was not registered and wouldn’t meet Russian roadworthiness restrictions. The owner of the batmobile is reportedly facing three charged related to the vehicle, which authorities say breaks a number of Russian road regulations relating to documentation as well as the design of the car itself.
Now, I don’t doubt that a custom-built replica of a high-powered superhero car isn’t all that safe for pedestrians and occupants alike, even if it reportedly cost nearly $850,000.I mean look at the thing. The sightlines are atrocious out of that slit of a greenhouse, the partially-open front wheels will kick up all manner of road debris from pothole-strewn winter streets, and I suspect that someone who doesn’t see the flat-black thing coming their way won’t fare too well in a collision.
But there’s got to be a bit of a double-standard at play here. The Russian market is still home to dangerously old designs like the Lada Niva, which, as much as I love it, is one of the last places I want to be in a collision. It’s also a driving environment where sharing the road with large military vehicles like the Ural-4320 6×6 truck isn’t uncommon. With a conscript at the wheel, I’d worry to end up in one of those blindspots too, but I don’t think they’re getting impounded any time soon.
I guess if you want to drive something scarily huge and intimidating in Moscow traffic you better find yourself working for the state (the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, perhaps), not around its edges like the Caped Crusader. If you don’t mind trading black for green, of course.
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