Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Grotto]

Well tonight I came within inches or centimeters of dying....it was so close the drivers car twisted the rear license on my motorcycle...he was flying along...skidmarks are about 10 feet long...the yield sign he blew past didnt slow him at all.....if I hadnt zigged when I did I would either be in the hospital or the morgue.

What is it not only with the drivers but what blind drunken civic planner designed these roads??? Many of these roads are probably what used to be footpaths just widened a little and paved.

I plan on taking a photo of the intersection and posting it.

Are the lines on the road actually supposed to be obeyed? Or are they just general guidelines? I have seen so many fricking drivers over here drive right smack dab in the center of the road straddling the center line Where do they get thier licenses? Do they actually have to do anything other than bribe the corrupt government officials at the DMV?

I just cant believe how effing stupid many of these drivers are

I say send them all to California and let them survive a few freeway cases of road rage that should weed out the worst of them.

I so wanted to beat the living crap out of the moron who hit me.....but it is hard to wind up and hit someone who's only English is 'sorry sorry'

Tomorrow I take my bike in and get it repaired....sigh

[Derrek]

I hate getting honked at if you don't start leaving BEFORE the light turns.

If they did that in New York, they'd get shot.

[Kristsoy]

some MF almost killed me today when i was blading home. stupid asshole i almost dragged his ass outta of his car and beat him to death. too bad it was a woman driver

[rapier]

I'd never own a car in this country... sounds like a recipe for totally needless expense and stress. Seriously, where is the need for a vehicle?

You get where you're going faster by using public transport- and with less road rage involved.

[Homer]

Kristsoy,

Sounds bad.

However, were you blading on the street?
If so you have to realize that the car belongs there but you don't (on blades that is).

If the driver did something out of the ordinary then by all means blame him.

However, as one who had the unfortunate bad luck of hitting a blader bad home while driving I can tell you that many bladers, like cyclists ignore the traffic rules and are sometimes quite hard to see (i.e. at the last second).

Hope you were not injured.

[HardyandTiny]

I have to say I still haven't figured it out.
Must be me!
Three years now I've been driving in Korea and I've never had an accident, but when I'm driving all the pedestrians just walk out in front of my car without looking and when I'm walking the drivers never stop to let me cross.
It's amazing!
Children, seven year-olds, will just drift out into the street and casually walk in front of my car, as if they're deaf and can't hear my car.
No one understands the idea that those to the right of you have the right of way at an intersection.
If I obeyed the traffic laws I would have had at least ten accidents by now.

Big problem in Korea.

[Derrek]

[Kristsoy]

i thought lots of time to get a scooter but leaving soon now. And where am I supposed to blade on the awesome sidewalks korea has? my area is like old footpaths He car was stopped in the middle of the road on an angle and since korean people seem to think they can park anywhere they want...

I skated past her and just cleared her bummper while she drove into the side of my leg. If she took off like crazy bus drivers here, id probably be in the hospital now. gave her a look to kill and skated off.

If it was a guy i probably would have went up to the car. Koreans seem to only care what's in their little world, not anywhere else.

Totally agree with you Rapier...I've been asking myself for years why koreans buy cars when they dont need to. I think the subway is way faster, and on holidays, id take the train anyday rather than sitting in traffic for hours getting nowhere.

[Crois]

I got stopped for J-walking the other day. There was one car just passing the walk area and so i decided to cross because I cant be arsed to wait all that time at the traffic lights.

The police man or traffic guy runs after me and says red stop green go. I'm like whatever.

What really ticks me off is that cars and bikes are always on the road. SO what if i cross the road when i want to. I lived in Hong Kong for 17 years crossing roads which were worse than here.

Basically it seems that Korean people are too inept (spl) to cross the road they need some one to do it for them.
I cross the road when there is a red light so i dont have to wait 5 minutes. The Koreans see me cross the road and so they then start to cross the road. But seeing that there are cars coming they run back. They should bloody look at the traffic lights.

Sorry ranting.

[Homer]

Kris...

I was not recommending you switch to the sidewalks for blading since sidewalks are not for bladers either!

Here they seem to be shared by pederstrians and scooters...enough traffic allready


As for blading here, there are areas where you can do so safely (there are in Busan anyway!). I am not defending Korean drivers here just saying that if a person blades on the streets here they are taking one big chance.

[captain kirk]

Ok, here are my 'diary entries' re; unskilled drivers in Korea witnessed today having read this thread yesterday, so with a mind to it.
I'm sitting in McDonalds first thing in the mid-morning and two young women decide to park their car in/on a side road. This is a road for two way traffic but the young woman who is the passenger must get out and go to the pharmacy. So the young woman driving halts the car in the road. If someone pulls onto this road off the main drag they'll run smack dab into the woman waiting for her friend.
Later in the day, on the freeway, I wonder if slow drivers stay in the left, 'fast lane' back home in Canada. I haven't been back there in awhile, a few years, but I think just about everybody there knows the left lane is for fast cars. Today I saw the left lane being used just like the right hand lane. Both lanes were behind a slow driver heading each.

[ajuma]

Rapier, when you live in the sticks and it's 78 steps up to your apartment, THAT'S when you get a car!!!

[Bulsajo]

Maybe it's just me, but I think anyone roller-blading out in the street in Korea has a deathwish.

[intergalactic]

I spoke to my father-in-law this morning (Korean). He'd heard we'd bought a car. He said "PLEASE be careful. Koreans are lousy drivers!"
I had to laugh!

I used to have a scooter but now being pregnant I have 'upgraded' to the car. I much prefer the scooter, you can weave in and out of traffic.

I don't know all the road rules and parking rules here, but I think that makes me fit in well. I just go where I need to go, yield whenever, park wherever, basically do what everyone else is doing. I love that on the big 4 or 6 lane roads the white lines have faded away and you have to guess where your lane is. So it's just a big tangle of cars, just drifting.

The kiwi guy we got the car from said "yeah I stopped checking my blind spot because there's a chance that you'll ram into the car in front".