Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GwangjuParents]

Today I saw (again) the aftermath of a moped accident with the moped delivery guy not wearing a helmet. I drove by before the ambulance arrived.

Not a nice scene to say the least...


For a nation that prides itself on being "very intelligent", you'd think they'd have the wherewithal to make wearing a helmet mandatory, and massively crackdown on those who don't wear helmets.

You gotta wonder what these moped guys are costing the Korean taxpayers for medical costs.


Moreover, shouldn't these moped guys have the experience to just "know" that the odds of crashing with a moped are high, and when your head hits the pavement at 50 kph the results aren't nice????

[PatrickBateman]

Just as long as my pizza arrives unscathed....

[CentralCali]

[TwoFold]

[bluelake]

Many years ago, I heard that the penalty for not wearing a helmet was 5,000 won. Not sure what it is now, although I rarely have seen enforcement.

[richardlang]

Having a face is fashionable. Everyone should wear a helmet.

[Trioxin_Failure]

Honestly I never get over how much people love to dictate to others what to do. Such thing sas the police should "crackdown" on these horrid helmetless creatures. Last time I checked those people were only hurting themselves, and if thats the case, I'm pretty sure it falls under the none of anyone elses business case.

Now enter the whiners with quote about insurance prices or something inane about the common good. Go ahead. Done now? Ok I'm pretty sure these people did not consciously make the decision to screw others over by not wearing a helmet. They made a choice, for themselves, and they paid the consequences.

That said, I drive a motorcycle, and wear a helmet most of the time, not for the benefit of society, a little bit to avoid potential police conflict, but mostly because i enjoy my head. This is my decision. Sometimes I run to the store without a helmet, if I crash and smash my face on the wall should I blame the poor police enforment for not catching me? Doubtful. I should blame myself, or at least understand that my choice had consequences. And then I should give the finger to the smug foreigner driving by my corpse who looked by long enough to write a post about it on Daves.

[TwoFold]

[CentralCali]

Not only that, but the poor beggar who's unfortunate enough to be the one they ricochet off will get slammed when the helmetless head caroms into the pavement.

But nothing surprises me anymore. Not after seeing four people, all without helmets, on one scooter while the scooter driver was weaving through traffic at a pretty fast clip.

[JongnoGuru]

[harlowethrombey]

[diver]

[Goon-Yang]

What does it cost John Q. Taxpayer? Nothing...a big fat zero. Some insurance companies don't even cover these guys.

No helmet=no coverage at the hospital.

[okokok]

How about the young guys with no helmets that insist on rocking/whipping their bike left to right for absolutely no reason. I see it a lot. They do it right past the cops, but the cops don't even notice.

Anyways, there is so much stupidity on the roads, where do you even begin? The roads are out of control and I don't think anyone in Korea has the nads to fix it. Until I started driving myself, I never even fully understood how bad it is.

It's the same as India, except they have the infrastructure here which makes you expect more. They have the traffic lights here, the painted lanes, etc... but they're all over the road just like in India. I used to drive in India and was frustrated with all of the driving the wrong way down a street, people jumping out in front of you, cars that can't stay in a lane, motorcycles weaving in and out to get ahead etc. But Korea's no better.

The funny thing is lately I've seen police who have pulled a car/bike over and seem to be issuing a ticket. But I can't understand how they chose that guy to pull over out of the hundreds of infractions occurring around them at that very moment. It's such a mess.

Koreans have developed terrible habits, and it will take extremely strong leadership to ever move things along in the right direction. Probably impossible.

[coralreefer_1]

The husband of a coworker ofmine is a police officer here in Daegu. This is how he explained it to me...

Typically they wont even attempt to ticket the delivery guys. He says the general thinking is that everyone appreciates getting their chicken/pizza/chinese..whatever,very quickly, and therefore allow these guys to basically get away with breaking every law there is concerning road safety. He said inmany cases, the police wont bother them even if the guy is right in front of them without a helmet/going through a red light..etc,for the above reasons. This is similar to the reason busescan get away with running red lights and such, as people appreciate getting to their destination quickly.

According to him, the only time they will ticket someone without a helmet is in the following cases...

1.The punks who are not delivering anything, just riding their neon orange/blue bikes with huge speakers on the tanks (If they can see them and catch them)

2. If there is an accident in the area,and a biker is killed (whether delivery guy or anyone else) they will have a "crackdown" for a day or two and ticket without a helmet (Those who will actually stop).

I experienced this myself last year when i was riding without a helmet up to the gym through the neighborhood roads (gym was only 500 meters away) The cops were out standing in the road and pulled me over, but only gave me a warning.That day, the officer told me that the day before,one of the many dabang girls was killed (of course she wouldn't mess up her hair to wear a helmet) and that was the reason they were out that day.

But you know, they only catch the guys for the first 15 minutes or so...After that, the whole neighborhood knows they are there, and the guys wear a helmet. As you can guess...the next day...business as usual. No cops, and no helmets.

I have seen other stings like this where guys with no helmets just drive away from the cops..haha. I love to watch these cops run out into traffic 4 lanes deep to order a guy to pull over only to have him dodge you and keep going.

I think this is why many Koreans seem to have a disliking for the cops. They can get away with almost anything they want, until it comes time to protest and break the laws concerning no illegal gatherings in front of city hall. Then when the police actually enforce the laws, they cry abuse..as if to say.."how dare you enforce the law"