Monday, August 16, 2010

Driving in Korea

I am sure this will not be my only post on this subject.  Each day as I am out and about in Korea, I see and learn new things about how they drive over here. Honestly, when I first arrived, I was extremely afraid to get my license.  To me, they drive worse then New Yorkers...and my husband is one of those New Yorkers. 

But, in the midst of my fear I made the decision to go ahead and get my USFK license anyway.  The test wasn't too difficult, as long as you study for it and I passed on the first try.  While I was there, a young guy was taking it for the third time.  Poor guy!

Yes, he is running the red light
So my observations on driving in Korea so far....
  1. Red lights are optional
  2. Sidewalks are meant for driving
  3. Roads are meant for parking your car wherever you feel like putting it
  4. Driver's don't use their rearview mirrors and if they do, they don't care that you are passing them, they'll pull out in front of you anyway
  5. Kids will put their hand in the air and step in front of you to cross the street
  6. Green means go, yellow mean go, red mean go go go
So there are a few of my observations.  I know I will have many more to add and crazy stories to go along with it. And if I am lucky, some more pictures.

    At least he paused to see if anyone was coming before he ran the light.

2 comments:

Mitch said...

When I was stationed there, I boiled the rules down to two:

1) Don't hit anyone else.
2) Don't let anyone else hit you.

Apparently, under the law, you are almost as responsible for violating rule #2 as you are rule #1.

Nevertheless, I eventually became somewhat accustomed to the driving conditions. I called it "cooperative chaos."

Good luck and may God keep you safe.

Cami said...

I love this post Nicole@!!!!!!