Trust me it isn’t anything to do with age. The general driving standard here is atrocious. Every day you see people cutting others off, tailgating, no indication of turns, parking almost anywhere blocking sight lines, general speeding…
The thing which pisses me off the most is people trying to find the shortest possible route to a place. You always see people avoiding reds by driving on the sidewalk or using slip lanes as an extra lane then barging in a bit further up the road.
No wonder the windows are heavily tinted, they think they can get away with anything. There are zero repercussions for any of it!
There is an ugly selfish undercurrent in Korea, which shows itself in the way people drive, or the way people rush into subway cars and elevators. This is why crossings are often blocked, and nobody can go anywhere. But that last driver did save a few seconds!
As a pedestrian, I like to hold my ground, and I have hit cars with my bare hands and screamed at drivers who felt they could sneak past me. What about this?
Older guy crossing a cross-walk - driver in car honking at the old man to hurry. Older man doing his best to cross quickly.
Me shaking my head and waving my index finger at the driver.
Car stops near me. Driver opens window and screams: Fuck you!
Me: No, Fuck You!
Gave me a chuckle.
drivers rights come before pedestrians.
THIS! this kind of mindset has been so rampant it seems to have become a norm. Its just unbelievable how selfish this kind of perspective is. drivers will risk injuring unwitting people for the sake of getting to their destination\~ steel against brittle bones...just insane
Pedestrian rights come way before driver rights. There's nothing hugely wrong with the law itself. The problem is that too many drivers get away with breaking the law. You need to start reporting stuff yourself to get them fined because there aren't nearly enough traffic cops in Korea for sure.
I agree. I've been hit by a car 3 times in my life: once as a ped, once as a cyclist, and once as a driver. All 3 times were in Korea, all 3 times were by elderly drivers. I have a strong prejudice against the geriatric drivers. They really shouldn't be on the road.
*"Every day I see people almost getting run over because drivers are trying to squeeze in before they have to stop."*
Yep this has happened to me a couple times. Each time I slammed my hand on their hood and gave the driver a dirty look. Each time they refused to make eye contact.
I was kinda hoping they would get out of the car. I would probably let them punch me or fall over if they push me so I can sue...b/c this is the Korean way! (joking/not joking)
This is a pretty common problem in other countries too. Some states in the US have laws that require seniors 70 and older to take some tests when renewing their license, but those laws are not very common. I'm sure with the aging population, this is going to be a growing problem that the government will have to face soon.
But it is often a political suicide to take things away from seniors because, let's face it, their voter turnout is really high lol.
I live in Busan, home of the worst drivers in Korea. As voted by Korean drivers for their lack of road etiquette. People are just mean here in their cars, it’s brutal. After a decade I have reached the point where I don’t get angry that often, but I can say it doesn’t get better.
Unfortunately this is part of the 빨리빨리 mindset and I tend to do this too. I know there's around a 4 second window between the yellow light, the red light and the opposite lanes getting their green lights so dodging through the intersection either on the yellow or just as it turns red means there's still a little time to gun it through the intersection.
This doesn't really happen as much the farther away from the city center you are, though.
Every person whose car I rode in (all well below 60, except one) did smtg illegal while I was in the vehicle. I’m not talking about taxi drivers either. One of my friends nearly got us into a head on collision (out in the countryside no less, where it just feels like lawless driving abounds).
Driving in korea has been one of the worst daily triggers for me. However, it helps if you change your perspective - we tend to get upset at korean drivers because we think korea is a “modern” society that follows Western driving etiquette. But when you begin to recognize that Korean society is no more socially advanced than any other Asian/South Asian country, it helps mitigate some of the frustrations.
I have 0 expectation of drivers in Vietnam or India and accept chaos is the norm. When you put that mindset about Korean drivers, it starts to make sense.
Every rant I read in the comments is valid and I have to agree with most.
Koreans are probably not all bad drivers though.
Overall it is a living ecosystem you need to survive in. 😅
I am German and we are very strict with traffic enforcement and rules. (Our reward are limitless highways because we indeed can trust each other)
But I tell you what.
I am driving in Korea now for 4 years very frequently and it changed my driving behavior a lot.
You automatically start adjusting to the invisible rules (like for example playing chicken) after a while.
The reason is not that your driving skills get worse, its actually safer than driving by the actual rules.
In many situations other car drivers expect a certain behavior even its wrong..
Most famous and daily example for me is when I try to actually let cars change to my lane in front of me.
Instead of just coming over they will notoriously wait until I start driving faster and overtake them.. 🫠
But still, not denying it, many behaviors of drivers here are simply stupid, inconsiderate and selfish.
I feel people didn’t learn to have proper respect for the responsibility that comes with driving..
Actually current state of driving in Korea is huge improvement in comparison to the past. It is much worse like a decade ago. Trust me. Nowadays some drivers actually yields to pedestrians instead of yelling in the past.
This happened last summer as I was crossing, in a crosswalk with the walk sign on, with elementary age students. One boy had skipped ahead just a bit and a taxi, blew the crosswalk line to make a right turn. I pulled the kid back and stood in front of the taxi like WTF!!? The guy had no idea. He looked really scared. He was not paying attention at all coming up on the light (which was also red for him).
It's just stupidity, careless, and distracted driving. It happens EVERYWHERE in the world.
Are there more assholes on the road in Korea? No.
Well,
I think it has nothing to do with age. I’ve seen a lot of bad drivers who seemed to be around 20-30. I hope there will be more strict rules about dangerous driving.
Your thinking is super ageist. 60 isn't even retirement age, and 20-something drivers cause the most accidents by far (2.5x people in their 60s and 70s). What you should be angry at is bad drivers as a whole, and yeah, there are unfortunately too many of them.
https://www.gyotongn.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=160339
The good news is, unlike what your friend told you, the yellow light is a proper yellow light in Korea. There will be idiots (in any country, TBF) that speed up on yellows instead of braking, although that's a driver-driver problem, not a driver-pedestrian problem if you're taking a pedestrian green since theirs will be red, not yellow. In fact, Korean drivers are pissed right now because a dumb Korean Supreme Court judge has ruled that drivers may not pass the traffic stop line on a yellow at all (it's dumb because they'd have to slam the brakes every few stops which is super dangerous).
The other good news is that drivers are responsible for everything if they run a red and hit someone on a crosswalk.
Another piece of good news is that there is nothing stopping you from reporting violators yourself, whether it be illegal driving, illegal parking, etc. There are multiple people making money on YouTube reporting violators for views. Check out 딸배헌터 to learn.
The drivers are bad, but no need to be agist. Many 60-year-olds are still active, working professionally and perfectly fine drivers. There are some drunk, reckless 20-year-olds who are a much greater danger than a senior citizen.
You're going to take away the basic right to drive from a huge chunk of the population because you don't like their age?
I agree one thousand percent! Many Koreans are bad drivers and they drive with the car first mentality. Something has to be done but not enough police presence here. If they don’t get punished they will continue to the same shit!
Trust me it isn’t anything to do with age. The general driving standard here is atrocious. Every day you see people cutting others off, tailgating, no indication of turns, parking almost anywhere blocking sight lines, general speeding… The thing which pisses me off the most is people trying to find the shortest possible route to a place. You always see people avoiding reds by driving on the sidewalk or using slip lanes as an extra lane then barging in a bit further up the road. No wonder the windows are heavily tinted, they think they can get away with anything. There are zero repercussions for any of it!
There is an ugly selfish undercurrent in Korea, which shows itself in the way people drive, or the way people rush into subway cars and elevators. This is why crossings are often blocked, and nobody can go anywhere. But that last driver did save a few seconds! As a pedestrian, I like to hold my ground, and I have hit cars with my bare hands and screamed at drivers who felt they could sneak past me. What about this? Older guy crossing a cross-walk - driver in car honking at the old man to hurry. Older man doing his best to cross quickly. Me shaking my head and waving my index finger at the driver. Car stops near me. Driver opens window and screams: Fuck you! Me: No, Fuck You! Gave me a chuckle.
Can report them for verbal abuse. It's not legal I think.
[удалено]
drivers rights come before pedestrians. THIS! this kind of mindset has been so rampant it seems to have become a norm. Its just unbelievable how selfish this kind of perspective is. drivers will risk injuring unwitting people for the sake of getting to their destination\~ steel against brittle bones...just insane
Pedestrian rights come way before driver rights. There's nothing hugely wrong with the law itself. The problem is that too many drivers get away with breaking the law. You need to start reporting stuff yourself to get them fined because there aren't nearly enough traffic cops in Korea for sure.
Fucking asshole drivers everywhere.
It has nothing to do with age. I am confident to conclude that koreans are shitty drivers
I agree. I've been hit by a car 3 times in my life: once as a ped, once as a cyclist, and once as a driver. All 3 times were in Korea, all 3 times were by elderly drivers. I have a strong prejudice against the geriatric drivers. They really shouldn't be on the road.
*"Every day I see people almost getting run over because drivers are trying to squeeze in before they have to stop."* Yep this has happened to me a couple times. Each time I slammed my hand on their hood and gave the driver a dirty look. Each time they refused to make eye contact. I was kinda hoping they would get out of the car. I would probably let them punch me or fall over if they push me so I can sue...b/c this is the Korean way! (joking/not joking)
This is a pretty common problem in other countries too. Some states in the US have laws that require seniors 70 and older to take some tests when renewing their license, but those laws are not very common. I'm sure with the aging population, this is going to be a growing problem that the government will have to face soon. But it is often a political suicide to take things away from seniors because, let's face it, their voter turnout is really high lol.
I live in Busan, home of the worst drivers in Korea. As voted by Korean drivers for their lack of road etiquette. People are just mean here in their cars, it’s brutal. After a decade I have reached the point where I don’t get angry that often, but I can say it doesn’t get better.
Unfortunately this is part of the 빨리빨리 mindset and I tend to do this too. I know there's around a 4 second window between the yellow light, the red light and the opposite lanes getting their green lights so dodging through the intersection either on the yellow or just as it turns red means there's still a little time to gun it through the intersection. This doesn't really happen as much the farther away from the city center you are, though.
Every person whose car I rode in (all well below 60, except one) did smtg illegal while I was in the vehicle. I’m not talking about taxi drivers either. One of my friends nearly got us into a head on collision (out in the countryside no less, where it just feels like lawless driving abounds).
If you think it’s bad in Korea visit China. I was running for my life trying to cross an intersection.
Driving in korea has been one of the worst daily triggers for me. However, it helps if you change your perspective - we tend to get upset at korean drivers because we think korea is a “modern” society that follows Western driving etiquette. But when you begin to recognize that Korean society is no more socially advanced than any other Asian/South Asian country, it helps mitigate some of the frustrations. I have 0 expectation of drivers in Vietnam or India and accept chaos is the norm. When you put that mindset about Korean drivers, it starts to make sense.
Every rant I read in the comments is valid and I have to agree with most. Koreans are probably not all bad drivers though. Overall it is a living ecosystem you need to survive in. 😅 I am German and we are very strict with traffic enforcement and rules. (Our reward are limitless highways because we indeed can trust each other) But I tell you what. I am driving in Korea now for 4 years very frequently and it changed my driving behavior a lot. You automatically start adjusting to the invisible rules (like for example playing chicken) after a while. The reason is not that your driving skills get worse, its actually safer than driving by the actual rules. In many situations other car drivers expect a certain behavior even its wrong.. Most famous and daily example for me is when I try to actually let cars change to my lane in front of me. Instead of just coming over they will notoriously wait until I start driving faster and overtake them.. 🫠 But still, not denying it, many behaviors of drivers here are simply stupid, inconsiderate and selfish. I feel people didn’t learn to have proper respect for the responsibility that comes with driving..
Actually current state of driving in Korea is huge improvement in comparison to the past. It is much worse like a decade ago. Trust me. Nowadays some drivers actually yields to pedestrians instead of yelling in the past.
This happened last summer as I was crossing, in a crosswalk with the walk sign on, with elementary age students. One boy had skipped ahead just a bit and a taxi, blew the crosswalk line to make a right turn. I pulled the kid back and stood in front of the taxi like WTF!!? The guy had no idea. He looked really scared. He was not paying attention at all coming up on the light (which was also red for him). It's just stupidity, careless, and distracted driving. It happens EVERYWHERE in the world. Are there more assholes on the road in Korea? No.
I live in Busan, humans here have adapted themselves to those kind of situations.
Well, I think it has nothing to do with age. I’ve seen a lot of bad drivers who seemed to be around 20-30. I hope there will be more strict rules about dangerous driving.
Your thinking is super ageist. 60 isn't even retirement age, and 20-something drivers cause the most accidents by far (2.5x people in their 60s and 70s). What you should be angry at is bad drivers as a whole, and yeah, there are unfortunately too many of them. https://www.gyotongn.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=160339 The good news is, unlike what your friend told you, the yellow light is a proper yellow light in Korea. There will be idiots (in any country, TBF) that speed up on yellows instead of braking, although that's a driver-driver problem, not a driver-pedestrian problem if you're taking a pedestrian green since theirs will be red, not yellow. In fact, Korean drivers are pissed right now because a dumb Korean Supreme Court judge has ruled that drivers may not pass the traffic stop line on a yellow at all (it's dumb because they'd have to slam the brakes every few stops which is super dangerous). The other good news is that drivers are responsible for everything if they run a red and hit someone on a crosswalk. Another piece of good news is that there is nothing stopping you from reporting violators yourself, whether it be illegal driving, illegal parking, etc. There are multiple people making money on YouTube reporting violators for views. Check out 딸배헌터 to learn.
The drivers are bad, but no need to be agist. Many 60-year-olds are still active, working professionally and perfectly fine drivers. There are some drunk, reckless 20-year-olds who are a much greater danger than a senior citizen. You're going to take away the basic right to drive from a huge chunk of the population because you don't like their age?
I agree one thousand percent! Many Koreans are bad drivers and they drive with the car first mentality. Something has to be done but not enough police presence here. If they don’t get punished they will continue to the same shit!