As this article points out, Why Russians Are Obsessed With Dash-Cams, Russian roads are a lawless place, and your best chance of limiting your liability when you are driving on them is with a dash-cam. Hence, the proliferation of them in that country.
I would not be surprised to see them in North American cars soon. Our roads may be more lawful, but there’s still enough bad driving and bad driving conditions here to make for some interesting footage.
Smart People I Know 
I have often thought that having a dashcam would be a great idea, just on the basis of protecting you in terms of liability in the event of a fender bender or to capture evidence if someone around you is driving recklessly, putting others in peril! And, Oh yes! …..They would also be very handy for capturing footage of meteors, UFO’s, space aliens, & sasquatches! ; D
Dashcams are indeed on the rise in North America too, there’s nothing better if anything happens that you’d need proof for later…. Doesn’t necessary have to be an alien landing J., though in the event you see one you’ll be glad you got that dashcam 😉