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Driving in Korea

 
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krats1976



Joined: 14 May 2003

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:06 am    Post subject: Driving in Korea Reply with quote

I was cleaning up my "To Be Filed" pile tonight and I came across my Korean driver's license manual. I had to turn to my favorite part... it always gives me a wee chuckle so I thought I'd share:

Quote:
Driving attitudes reveal the driver's characters. Unnecessary use of horns, shameful intrusion, sudden passing, forcing the preceding vehicle to speed up by giving threatening signs or approaching too closely, making insulting remarks to the drivers who make mistakes, etc. reveal their narrow-minded or twisted characters.


Laughing Laughing
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Big Mac



Joined: 17 Sep 2005

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like just about every Korean driver I've seen. Hmm, I wonder what that says about Koreans in general? I won't go there.
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SuperHero



Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Location: Superhero Hideout

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why didn't I get one of those manuals?
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Universalis



Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only guidebook you'll need:

TOP 20 RULES AND TIPS FOR DRIVING IN KOREA

1. You are never in the wrong lane to make a turn as long as you use your signal when you make a turn.

2. A parking lot is never full regardless of the number of cars already in it.

3. The purpose of the painted lines on the road is only for decoration, much like tinsel on a Christmas tree.

4. For some unexplainable reason, traffic lights occasionally turn red. What this means, no one in Korea really knows.

5. Motor scooters can act as pedestrians and use sidewalks or go against
traffic.

6. It's okay to cut someone off if you follow it up with a friendly "I'm stupid" hand gesture.

7. You will never be the last one to run a red light.

8. Letting a driver turn onto a major street from a driveway is required if and only if half of his/her car is preventing you from passing through.

9. Stopping at a stopsign after midnight is entirely optional.

10. Holding a clenched fist in the air, done especially by small children, allows a pedestrian to cross the road anywhere.

11. Yielding the right of way is seen as sign of stupidity or inexperience in
driving. It will earn you the wrath of many Korean drivers.

12. Your car must always have at least 20 stuffed animals in the rear window to block your view.

13. Each car must have at least one cell phone which automatically attaches to the driver's face when sitting.

14. If you really are going to stop at a stop sign or red light use your
emergency flashers to signal your intention.

15. When driving an expensive import car in Seoul, tinted windows,
sunglasses, and at least a gallon of hair gel are mandatory.

16. When driving the same type of car as in #15, the minimum speed to which one must accelerate between two stoplights spaced 50 meters apart is 120 km/hr (70mph).

17. There is no speed limit after midnight in Korea.

18. There is no such thing as a one way street in Korea.

19. Korean air has the amazing property of being able to magically absorb all catalytic emissions. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to sleep in your car with the AC on while your car is running.

20, The bicycle is a strange and futuristic invention from outer space that only Europeans, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and other foreigners know how to operate. It's exact purpose has yet to be determined.

Brian
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JongnoGuru



Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a pretty good, funny list. But I think the last item needs some minor revision.

Universalis wrote:
20. The bicycle is a strange and futuristic invention from outer space that only Europeans, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and other foreigners know how to operate. It's exact purpose has yet to be determined.

The majority of Koreans reproduce. The majority of their offspring own bicycles at one time or another. The majority of Koreans live in apartment blocks.

When I used to live in apartments and now whenever I visit friends who live in apartments, it's almost impossible not to trip over the obstacle course of bicycles -- upright, leaning against a wall, tipped over on the ground, at bike stands, piled up barricade-fashion around the mailboxes, chained to banisters in stairwells... they're everywhere.

However, by the time children in Korea outgrow their first and second bicycles, there comes the realisation that ownership of a bicycle has no demonstrable impact on TOEIC or TOEFL scores, and thus ends the fascination with bicycles. Or so goes my own personal theory as to why only the lumpenproletariat (delivering mandu or LPG tanks or sky-high bales of foam-rubber shoulder pads, in their slippered feet) are about the only people over age 13 to be seen riding bicycles in Korea.
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IlIlNine



Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Location: Gunpo, Gyonggi, SoKo

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 8:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That list is exactly why I like driving here.

Traffic lights? Speed limits? Lines panted on the road? Just things open to interpretation.

Especially on my motorbike.
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JongnoGuru



Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep

PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IlIlNine wrote:
That list is exactly why I like driving here.

Traffic lights? Speed limits? Lines painted on the road? Just things open to interpretation.

Especially on my motorbike.

Don't know how the traffic flows down in Gunpo, but buddy, don't you end up BEING one of those painted lines. The cloud-shaped white body outlines I mean. They're ALL OVER Seoul, with new ones appearing daily. I tell you, we've got people dying left & right up here who never died before.
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itaewonguy



Joined: 25 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

koreans cant drive! its simple once you know that your driving experience here will be easy!!!

I was always the kid who never got hit at dodge cars... same as Korea
they are all over the road you just need to avoid them!!
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blackbird



Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Location: Songtan

PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The traffic signals near the center of my town are turned off during peak weekend traffic hours. I swear. At first I thought they were just broken but it happens every weekend! Madhouse.
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krats1976



Joined: 14 May 2003

PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SuperHero wrote:
Why didn't I get one of those manuals?


Probably because you're smart. Laughing When I went to sign up for my driver's test (a story in itself), they asked me if I wanted to buy one. It was the biggest waste of 10K won ever since none of the questions on the test seemed to actually come from it. Confused
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JongnoGuru



Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep

PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It won't be such a waste of money if you can share more quotes like the one in the OP.
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krats1976



Joined: 14 May 2003

PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Laughing Laughing

Sadly, that was the only part of the book that didn't numb my brain. Rolling Eyes
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DanielInKorea



Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Location: Not a small village

PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Universalis wrote:


19. Korean air has the amazing property of being able to magically absorb all catalytic emissions. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to sleep in your car with the AC on while your car is running.



I never did quite understand the logic behind this. Walking past a truck that's blowing horrific emmissions into my lungs only to see that there is a snoring ajoshi in there was always a baffling experience. Confused
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IlIlNine



Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Location: Gunpo, Gyonggi, SoKo

PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JongnoGuru wrote:
IlIlNine wrote:
That list is exactly why I like driving here.

Traffic lights? Speed limits? Lines painted on the road? Just things open to interpretation.

Especially on my motorbike.

Don't know how the traffic flows down in Gunpo, but buddy, don't you end up BEING one of those painted lines. The cloud-shaped white body outlines I mean. They're ALL OVER Seoul, with new ones appearing daily. I tell you, we've got people dying left & right up here who never died before.


I've seen them. It's especially interesting when they don't clean the blood off too well .. anyways...

The thing is .. I'd rather run a red (especially at a 3-way intersection) Than sit there at some light like a dummy (on my motorcycle) just waiting to get rear-ended. Speed limits? Well -- just do whatever's appropriate. It's usually not speed itself that kills, it's the speed differential between different vehicles on the road. I'm pretty sensible -- I just don't like worrying if at the next corner there'll be some asshole cop waiting for me.
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