Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Scorpion]

I'm always amazed at how crosswalks in Korea seem to serve no purpose whatsoever. This morning as I was waiting for my bus I just sat and watched the absurdity of it all. Cars pulling up and parking on them, people j-walking five feet from them, an old man on a wheelchair almost getting run over by a car that (very reluctantly) eventually stopped for him, etc. And of course there's the cars that refuse to stop for me every single day when I'm using the crosswalk. Seems the only way they stop is if I turn and face them and yell "HEH! Stop your @#$%^ car." Even thern half of them either swerve to go around me. Others, annoyed that I'm even on the crosswalk, wave impatiently for me to cross. "Yeah, I'm trying to do that dude. Just want to friggin make sure you stop your vehicle so I can get to the other side alive'. The most infuriating, however, is when they don't stop for children who are already half way across and end up having to run back to the sidewalk.

Honestly, can even the famed apologists on this forum defend this behavior? Why even bother spending the millions of dollars to put the pedestrian crossing down if they serve no purpose?

[Underwaterbob]

I was more or less with you until the trollbait "apologist" term got thrown out.

Also, your suggestion is terrible. Just think how much more dangerous it would be if they didn't have them and told people to just cross wherever.

[Lucas]

[Captain Corea]

[cj1976]

I know this is a sweeping statement, but I am going to go ahead and say that Koreans are terrible drivers. This is the work of one man with a dash-cam going about his daily business. Traffic laws seem to be merely an inconvenience for Koreans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajEy8Yt-0o

[nicwr2002]

Make some money, as long as my life isn't in danger and they aren't speeding I just walk out. If they hit me then it's on them.

[CentralCali]

[optik404]

One time I started to cross the crosswalk and a police car came through, so I just stood in front of it and the police looked shocked that someone would walk when the light says too. I shouted at them in disgust. Then ran away.

[Steelrails]

As for crosswalks, at least in my small town, people are rather more strict about them. I think it has to do with everyone knowing each other and the fact that the speed limit is like 30 or something downtown. High School and college kids of course will jaywalk but there seems to be this expectation not to jaywalk amongst adults so as not to set a bad example for the elementary kids.

Driving through Busan or Seoul? Good ridance. Jinju and Daejeon are tolerable. The newer the city and the infrastructure, the nicer the driving. I refuse to drive to Seoul unless I absolutely have to.

Highways can be hit or miss. Taking the 12 West is a nightmare. Taking the 10 between Jinju and Masan is a delight- 8+ lanes of highway bliss like driving back home.

I'm usually a real chill driver. Like a grandmother. I like to float and cruise, relaxing music or talk radio, defensive non-territorial driving. But when I drive in Seoul I feel like I'm constantly about to hop out and take a bat to the back of someone's car. Or their windshield ala Corvette owner post-Sobchaking.

[cj1976]

[Scorpion]

Another thing that completely baffles me is parents jay-walking with their infants ten feet from a crosswalk. What kind of safety habits are they trying to instill in their kids. Teach them to use the crosswalk, demand that the cars stop, lobby town hall to pass strict laws, and get the police to do their jobs.

However, this being Korea......and Korean parents probably love their kids too much to make them use crosswalks.

[cabeza]

Korea easily has the worst driving of any "developed" country i've been to.

I really don't understand it. And when you mix in the lack of road safety from the kids i'm surprised i don't see more accidents than i do.
Every morning the kids get off the bus and run in front of the bus onto a busy road. And every morning I shudder.

But it's weird. Back home, Koreans are seen as some of the worst drivers for different reasons. They drive the direct opposite of here. 30km in a 50km zone. Braking uphill. Being overly hesitant at intersections.
Roads in my country are much wider than here and have about 1/100th of the traffic.
So before i came here I was expecting more of that. I was wrong.
I still remember the car ride from Incheon to my friends place in Gimpo. I nearly s**t my pants. No indication. Reckless overtaking and zigzagging all over the road. People just merging into pther cars and hoping they got out of the way.

[le-paul]

im sure if laws were enforced a bit better, things would be a bit safer.

One thing that makes me sick to the pit of my guts, is when i see women driving about with a child strapped to their chests against the steering wheel. If they really wanted to crush their child to death, why not just use them as a cushion for their piles? On top of that, half the time theyre talking on the phone and not paying attention to the road...

[transmogrifier]

You've got to love the strategy of immediately labelling anyone who disagrees as an apologist; it's an immediate mark of someone uninterested in debate, but merely stroking their own ego.

[jvalmer]

For all those saying how terrible Koreans are on the road. They are getting better, trust me. Go back a decade, it was awful. Go back to the 80's around Seoul Olympics, it was downright scary.

At least now they stop if they hit something. And they don't really jump the red-light anymore.