Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Scorpion]

I'm so tired of motorists endangering my safety, and the safety of those around me, when I'm on the crosswalk. I don't know how many times a day (every day) I'll be on the crosswalk with a green 'walk' signal and a motorist will fly through the light endangering my safety. I'm getting really sick of it. And it's not just the safety threat, it's the 'scaring the shit out of me' aspect of it. And beyond that it's just obnoxious, anti-social behavior...and illegal. And they behave this same way whether it's me on the crosswalk, or an old lady or a bunch of school kids. This has to change. Korea has the highest civilian fatality rate in the OECD (twice the average in fact) which means civilians are dying here at a very, very unacceptable rate. Things have to change. Why are Koreans not angrier about this?

I'd love to get my hands on the Korean Traffic Code. Does anyone have any information where I can view this? I've googled it but with no luck. It has to be out there somewhere, even if only translated by a bilingual waygookin. I'd love to have a copy in my hands. You might want to have one, too.

Thanks in advance.

[pjstarbuck]

not sure about where to get the full traffic code, but this blog might have some answers - he's a bilingual Korean attorney and has several traffic law-related posts:

http://klawguru.com/

[sligo]

They would have to write it in Korean first!

I have spokenn to my wife about this several times. In UKland, we are taught road safety in primary school, and retaught it every year until high school. My wife said that she never received any road safety education at school, and neither did any of her friends.

I used to think the problem lay with drivers, but i recently passed my test in Korea and started to drive. The problem is 2 fold: Koreans are not taught how to drive, rather how to pass the driving test. I drove round 4 courses and was told i would repeat one for the test. i had 6 hours of road experience (with an instructor who barely spoke English) before i took my test. Then i was given a licence. No instryuctions about manoeuvres or how to drive on any other road than the perfect new road courses. We practivced parallel parking in a driving centre, but never again in the "real world". As such, they are not aware of how tey should be acting on the road.

The second problem, is people don't know how to "be pedestrians". Since i started driving i have lost count of how many people just walk into the road (not at a crossing) without looking "left and right". People follow others over the road whether it is safe or not; if te first person steps into the road, the next person will follow them, and the next and the next. No-one checks to see if the person in front is being safe. Couple this with smart phones (people walking into the road looking at screens and not the road) and you have the walking dead!

Better driving education + road safety awareness for all school children = less dead people and happier posters in Dave's!

[The Grumpy Senator]

Personally, I cannot wait to see Scorpion chasing motor scooters down, flashing the Korean Driver's Code at them.

[nicwr2002]

I think you meant to say pedestrians not civilians. What I would do is just record a video with your phone or camera every time you walk in a crosswalk. If someone breaks the law when you record, then take that video to the police station or just do what they do and sue them for scaring you. Just make sure you record their license plate number.

[alongway]

[yodanole]

Korean Traffic Code? Is that anything like the scenario in the video below?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqhm36sjVE

or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA

[sligo]

[coralreefer_1]

Its probably out there somewhere, but why would you want it? All it could do would be to prove to yourself what you already know: Traffic law gets broken regularly.

Carrying it around or memorizing it wont make any difference. Let me save you the trouble of searching it out. It IS illegal to run a red light. It IS illegal to break the stop line at an intersection/crosswalk.

I'm very interested to know what you would do with such information. Perhaps what another suggested, recording your strolls through the crosswalk and getting the license plate of offenders? Please tell me if you do this, because I would love to see what the cops at the local police station say when you walk in with a video of it and expect something to be done.

Not trying to be pessimistic at all. I feel your pain (I've been driving here since 2007) but I don't see what any of us can do about it.

[Benjamino]

I've pretty much stopped driving here because of the appalling safety issues. I'm a fairly competent driver and have never been involved in an RTA in all my years behind the wheel.


However, when other drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and old women with carts full of cardboard try their very best to involve me in their attempts at suicide... then I've had enough.

[Scorpion]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

ㅅDoes Korea actually have traffic police, like troopers, or highway patrol?

It reminds me of the little SM3 police car that used to drive around my old neighborhood at night. I figured they were looking for vandals, or burglars, but they always had their response lights on to give the perpetrators warning. How kind.

[Steelrails]

I dunno where you live, but in my part of Seoul, there's been a substantial improvement in cars not blowing through traffic crossings. Almost everyone these days comes to a stop and waits for the crossing light to turn red, even if there are no pedestrians.

However, I concede that this might not be the case everywhere. Who knows how it is in Busan or Gwangju.

[Scorpion]

[SeoulNate]