Korean Job Discussion Forums

[coralreefer_1]

- Long post -

For those who must endure the driving course, here is a primer of how it works to the best of my recollection and the things that I learned over time were infractions. Anyone please feel free to correct me if any of this has changed or simply incorrect.

The car is a simple manual drive. It has sensors all over alerting the computer system of your infraction. The dashboard has a box displaying your score beginning at 100, and a green and yellow light. If you are applying to get a license that will allow you to drive a vehicle that seats more than 15 passengers, you will drive an ugly white truck, otherwise it will be an average sized car. (All stick shift)


- Get into car, buckle up, check mirrors and adjust seat.

- When green light appears in car..go. I believe the speed limit of the course was 15kpm..do not exceed this at any time except on the back end for the gear shift portion (explanation later)

Here is the course as I recall it. From start gate, wait for light to turn green and listen for 출발 (Chulbal) from the loudspeaker.


1 Simple stop - Go forward and there is a stop line (level surface). You must stop within 1 meter of the line, not crossing the FRONT of the line. When you stop, the yellow light will appear in the dash. Wait until it turns green before proceeding. If you are farther than 1 meter from the line, cross the line, or start again before the light turns green, you will lose 5 points.

2. Incline stop - You will climb what I believe is a 15 degree incline, and must stop at a stop line (again, not crossing or too far away) The distance here is a bit rough because on the incline you cant see the line very well as you approach it. Stop, wait for the green light to appear, and then go. Breaking the line, starting before indicated, or rolling backward will cost you 5 points. I watched many people fail this one, some of them rolling all the way back down, even one guy tried several times before finally rolling back down, getting out of the car angry and storming away.

(HINT) Even with lots of experience with a clutch, being in a strange car and only getting a few short seconds of practice with the clutch before this portion, it can be a challenge to know how the clutch will engage. There is nothing wrong with setting the emergency brake when stopping, and upon start winding the transmission to make sure it catches with sufficient power before slowly releasing the emergency brake. You are graded on breaking traffic movement, not on whether you burn up a transmission

3. Railroad crossing - Stop at the crossing (there is a stop line)

4. Z-Turn - Simple enough, but do not touch the sides or you will lose 5 points. The curb on the turn is lined with metal bars (sensors) Even if the tires do not touch the curb, if you are close enough to either side to that the side of the car were to cross the vertical plane of those sensors, you will lose 5 points. (Imagine driving through an S-turn with parked cars on each side)

5. Intersection - Same as any other intersection, stop at the stop line and wait for the light. Be sure to watch for other cars because others will be taking the test at the same time and may not see or obey the light (much like real driving in the city..haha) - At the intersection, you go when the traffic signal allows you, not the light in the car. You will go through the intersection several times, a few times turning left or right. Failure to use turn signal will cost you 5 points. Obviously running a red light will cost you. Also I believe here in Korea it is actually illegal to turn right on red (check the driver manual on that) but if that is true do not turn right on red on the course.

6. S- Turn - Pretty much the same applies here as the Z-Turn.

7. Intersection (again)

8. Parking - If I recall the next portion is backing into a parking space (although it may be front end first..cant recall) You must not cross the sides (again a curb with metal rail sensors). Also do not let the back (or front) of the car cross the vertical plane of the back of the parking space (imagine a car there) Crossing any of the lines will cost you 5 points. When you begin the parking portion the yellow light will appear. After you are parked do not move the car until the green light appears. If you move in any direction before the green light you will lose 5 points.

9. I think this is the intersection again, but if not, skip to next step.

10. Gear shift - Basically on the back end of the course there is a straightaway. As you proceed, you are supposed to reach a certain line, and upon crossing that line quickly speed up, shift to second gear, hit a certain speed (I believe it is 60kph) and then get back down to the course speed limit before crossing the line on the other end. I messed this up all 3 times I took the test (even when I passed the test on the 3rd try), and I am still not sure why. I believe I kept messing it up because upon reaching the start line for the time to speed up, I was speeding up when the FRONT of the car reached the point, but in retrospect I believe that you are supposed to wait until the BACK end of the car has crossed the start line before speeding up. If you speed up before crossing the start marker here, fail to shift to second, do not reach the posted speed, or fail to slow back down to course speed limit before reaching finish line, you lose 10 points.

11 - Parallel parking - Park the car, don't break the imaginary vertical plane. Wait for green light.

12. Exit - This one is strange if i recall because after finishing #11 you must return to the start point, which requires a left looping turn however even though you are still following the same path and it is not normally a turn that would require a signal, you MUST use the flashers.Failure to signal at all will cost you 10 points (if I recall correctly) Basically you are not signaling the turn but rather you are signaling that you are exiting the course.

Important note - As some point in the course there will be an "emergency stop" It is random but seemed to always happen to me at some point after #4 and before #12. Suddenly and without warning the lights in the car will begin flashing and a voice in the car will start yelling in Korean 도발 (Dobal) At this point you must suddenly stop the car completely..within 3 seconds if I recall. You MUST use the emergency flashers.

As far as the flashers I am not sure, but I think you are supposed to make sure they are at least on AFTER you stop. Back home those flashers are meant more as a warning that a driver is about to do something stupid or dangerous, but here in Korea they seemed to be used more as a way to say sorry for doing something stupid. For example a guy is on the side of the road stopped buying fruit, and decides they cant wait 3 seconds for you to pass, so they jump out in front of you anyway and THEN turn the flashers on to say sorry after the danger is over. I was trying to get them on as far as possible and never lost points so I don't think it will cost points if you turn them on before or during the stop, but make sure you get them on any way you can.

When I was going through all of that it cost 13,000 won each time to take the test (Chilgok location). At the center before the test there is a room where they will give a short briefing of the course explaining everything I said above, but it will obviously be conducted in Korean and much more accurate. If anyone is taking this test I recommend you stand in the main building on the second or 3rd floor if possible and watch the course for a few minutes. That was 2007 and at that point the course description booklet was only available in Korean.

You can ask the people where you failed, but they will only tell you what portion, but not the infraction. For example they will tell you that you failed the gear shift portion but since it is all done by computer they cannot tell you whether or not you didn't speed up enough or crossed the line or whatever. This made it very frustrating to know what was going on when I took the test.

Also not sure about this but I believe there is a time limit to finish the course. You can go as slow as you want but if it takes more than 15 minutes to complete I believe you will fail.