Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adam Carolla]

Crickets? I'm shocked.

[Lunar Groove Gardener]

Vietnam, Mexico, Thailand, Honduras, etc. etc.
None conforms to any of these American vehicle safety standards, ever.
When in Rome, is a likely response when you are there.
For example, in Vietnam I've ridden many times with 9 people (3 generations) in a Matiz taxi *and 2 live chickens.

I've seen a live, full-grown cow being transported on a motorbike, on the highway, lashed to the back and straining its neck to avoid bouncing its head on the road, at highway speeds. Just google for images of what people in poor countries transport on motorbikes.

Here's one which always amuses, amazes, and rattles my sense of what is safe.
https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=whole+family+on+scooter&biw=1088&bih=482&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX5YKm8d_KAhVJGZQKHb3UCZAQ_AUIBigB&gws_rd=ssl

Here's another:
https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=whole+family+on+scooter&biw=1088&bih=482&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX5YKm8d_KAhVJGZQKHb3UCZAQ_AUIBigB&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=isch&q=overloaded+scooter+pictures

Clearly a danger to the drivers and anyone on the road...pedestrians included.

People do expect more from Korea and Koreans, right or wrong, they are now a 1st world country...but in many distinct ways, act more like the dirt road society they were just one generation ago.

Taxis the world over haven't usually got a seat belt visible.
Passenger buses often do have seat belts, while school buses never have.

Just observations which I'm sure most here have had.

The question of whether it is government's place to enforce such things is interesting. Certainly one cannot get home or to another town in many countries if a seat belt is what you demand. Same for if you've a kid along. Or a chicken.

If you lived in Mexico, you'd also ask, why why why...and the answer really is about custom, habit, public information campaigns, education and culturally accepted practices.

Just like killing your own chickens.

Thanks for an entertaining discussion. I've had it many times in many places and have given up. When exactly does common sense and safety as you've learned it, become 'cultural imperialism' when imposing it in far off lands...?

[denverdeath]

[liveinkorea316]

To the OP. Seems like you might have stepped in it telling them how to raise their baby?

If your baby hasn't arrived yet the 'threats' they cannot driveway your baby also sound like overreaction.

I think you were singled out unfairly. They should have had a baby seat but we always need to be careful telling other parents what to do. They obviously didn't break any laws and you will raise your child differently. So you should. You aren't Korean.

If you also had a problem with your wife not wearing a seat belt - newsflash she has obviously never worn one in the back and the best place to have a serious discussion about it was not then also involving another couples baby and cultural references. Do it another time. She is an adult.

Your wife must have felt terrible in the middle of that. There did not seem to be the need for the level of conflict you described. Maybe apologise to in laws about it?

It is not worth ruining relationships over things that haven't even occurred yet. And when you do have your child you can deal with it more tactfully for your wife's sake. Until then try not to tell parents how to raise their children unless you would like the same nagging advice