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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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 Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:02 am Post subject: Taking the wheel for a drunken stranger |
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From the International Herald Tribune ...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/03/asia/city04.php
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In Seoul, taking the wheel for a drunken stranger
At 6:20 p.m., a line pops up on the screen of Hur Rak's palm-size digital wireless device with his first order of the evening: a shoe dealer who has had too much to drink wants to be driven home in his own car.
Hur rushes into the subway, gets off at the next stop, races up the steps, asks a parking-lot attendant for directions and finds his customer - and the car, a red subcompact - in less than 15 minutes.
"Speed is money in this business," said Hur, 43, who received 15,000 won, or $16, for driving his customer to his destination.
"You want to get as many orders as possible before dawn breaks," he said, after making the drive of 20 kilometers, or 12 miles. "I sleep in the day, work at night, six days a week."
Hur is a "replacement driver" who makes his living by delivering inebriated people and their cars home. There are tens of thousands of them operating in this hard-drinking metropolis of 10 million people. They go to work when Seoul streets blossom with neon signs and thoroughfares fill up with streams of cars returning home. They end their shifts well after the last neon lights blink out in the early morning mist curling up from the Han River.
Their work has become such an essential part of life in Seoul and other major cities of South Korea that the national statistical office last year began monitoring the price of replacement driver services as an element in calculating the benchmark consumer price index.
"The peak is between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.," Hur said. "But I usually don't get to bed until 7 a.m. I suffer chronic fatigue, but it's the way I make my living."
Hur's service grew out of a compromise between two competing forces in Seoul: the capital's vibrant nightlife and a police force determined to crack down on drunken driving.
In a country that proudly cites "drinking, singing and dancing" as a national trait, belting a national concoction called "the bomb" - a brimming glass of beer with a shot glass of whiskey in it - is considered the best way of building office camaraderie. Neon signs advertise "business clubs" where karaoke machines boom, whiskey flows and businessmen put the finishing touches on their negotiations.
The Korean emphasis on teamwork means frequent group dinners. Shirt-and-tie office workers sit on the floor and raise their "bombs" with a collective shout of "One shot!" (translation: "Bottoms up!"). And they mean it. Those who fail to obey are viewed as detrimental to the all-important "organization." Teetering office workers hooking their shoulders and shouting "Let's go for the second round!" is a common night scene in central Seoul.
This lifestyle, however, has met a foe. The police are putting up random roadblocks to ferret out drunken drivers, who risk losing their licenses. Some intoxicated drivers who spot such a roadblock leave their cars and flee - illegal parking is a lesser crime.
But many drivers in Seoul concur that the best solution is the relatively new invention of the replacement driver.
Until recently, city centers were clogged with tipsy people lurching onto the streets around midnight shouting "Double, double!" - it was so difficult to get a taxi at that hour they were offering double the usual fare. But no more, and no wonder taxi drivers hate replacement drivers.
Besides the unusual hours, job hazards abound for replacement drivers. Their work is considered a lowly job, and some drunks unload their frustrations by rudeness toward their driver. Cases have been reported of a replacement driver stopping in the middle of traffic, locking the car and walking away, leaving the customer kicking and raving.
"My teenage son once asked me not to tell his friends what my job was," Hur said.
The most common problem, he said, is having customers who "can't tell north from south, east from west, in their own neighborhood." Then there are those who refuse to wake up. Drivers shuffle through the customer's wallet to look for his home address (complaints of theft are not uncommon). They check his cellphone to find his home number.
"If the customer is very drunk, I make sure I get his home number from his sober drinking partners," Hur said. "You can struggle with a drunken man for half an hour, pleading and shaking him, but he wouldn't stir, and you are stuck with him in a forest of apartment blocks well past midnight, wasting time that you could use to get more orders. But when his wife comes out and says two words, 'Wake up!' - and I am not making this up - he comes right around." |
Page Two ...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/03/asia/city04.php?page=2 |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:23 am Post subject: |
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| Wow, what a great story. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:08 am Post subject: |
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There are some people (in the US or England, can't remember which) who ride some kind of collapsible scooter up to a pub and wait around for a drunk person who needs a ride in his own car. Then they fold the bike up and put it in the trunk.
Industrious folks, filling niches! |
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mashuu
Joined: 22 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 7:27 am Post subject: Re: Taking the wheel for a drunken stranger |
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[size=18]I
Hur's service grew out of a compromise between two competing forces in Seoul: the capital's vibrant nightlife and a police force determined to crack down on drunken driving.
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What a joke. As if the police have any vested interest in cracking down on drunken driving? Or any driving violations for that matter? What if they caught a politician or a jaebeoul mid-manager? Their ass would be grass (or more lucratively, subject to a minimal payoff).
HOWEVER, kudos to those who aren't so macho that they realize they've had enough and don't get behind the wheel. These drivers do provide a useful service. |
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europe2seoul
Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:03 am Post subject: Re: Taking the wheel for a drunken stranger |
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Its old news...those drivers exist for several years now if not more.
Many people are using them since its no risk and its affordable.
Its often times cheaper to take such a driver from Gangnam to Seongbuk than to take taxi for same trip.
I think such a service could be exported to other countries, but the key is to keep it affordable  |
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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| This article reminded me of something we have in Quebec: Operation Nez Rouge (Operation Red Nose). The differences are: 1) It only occurs during holidays like Christmas, and 2) It's done by volunteers; you don't have to pay. |
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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:45 am Post subject: |
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I used this service for the first time a couple of weeks ago...
Played football soccer) in the evening, and then went out for a meal afterwards. Ended up drinking a few more beers than I'd planned. Not smashed by any means, but wouldn't have passed a breathalyser test, had I come across one. I also needed to have the car early the next morning, so cabbing it home and then cabbing back to pick up the car in the morning just wasn't an option.
Had my wife call a service. Some lady showed up within about 10 minutes, with a partner (may have been her mother). Lady #1 drove my car home, while her partner followed. 12,000 won, no hassles. Not to mention, this driver was one of the best Korean drivers I've ever seen. She actually adjusted and used the rear view mirrors, and get this...she actually used her indicator lights every time she changed lanes! I was absolutely floored. Of course, she was a bit like a dour cabbie, yelling at the other incompetent drivers on the road. 
Overall, a positive experience. I'll certainly use the service again, if the need arises. |
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Drunken Monkey
Joined: 17 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:53 am Post subject: |
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I have used these drivers many times coming back from a night out from Namdong to Seoul. A lot cheaper than taxis.
Couple of warnings though
1. If you get your pic taken by a speed camera its you that will pay it....that one cost me 70,000 Won for 133kM/hr despite the fact i was asleep in the passenger seat!
2. Nobody has explained to me what would happen if you have an accident as the driver would not be insured on your car. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:17 am Post subject: |
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Seems to me a significant step forward for Korea that this service even exists.
I would guess that, up to only about 6 years ago, a drunken driver would have just drove himself home rather than leave his car outside some place of drinking miles from home.
So the Korean police can enforce laws and change the attitudes of people! It can be done!
I've noticed the current campaign is to get motocyclists to wear helmets. Now if they could only keep them off the sidewalks too................maybe Korean drivers can only handle one safety law enforced at a time. |
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steroidmaximus
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: GangWon-Do
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| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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I've used a Daeri Oun Cheon service myself on several occasions. Like others have said, it's often cheaper than a taxi and much more convenient.
As for the insurance aspect, if the driver has an accident, you're responsible. |
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