More on Traffic

My Jeep is here!  I wasn't able to take it home today--I got to the vehicle processing center too late to finish all of the required inspections and paperwork.  But it felt pretty good just to sit in the jeep and turn it on, and I should be able to finish the process shortly.  I have a Korean driver's licence, which is kind of scary because I showed up to the transportation office thinking I would be getting some kind of instruction or training, learned the appointment was actually to take the driver's test, and only had ten minutes to study off of some printouts an Army Private let me borrow while we waited.  Turns out the safety brief was AFTER we'd passed the test (and I'm still not sure how I actually passed).  It was pretty scary, the safety brief.  But then, traffic here in South Korea is scary, so I guess that makes sense.

A little Google research revealed that in 1996, automobile accidents killed approximately 1.2 deaths per 100 vehicle miles in Sweden, 1.7 in the U.S., 2.5 in Germany, and 38.5 in South Korea.  More recent data puts South Korea deaths per 100,000 vehicles at almost twice that of the U.S.  The Department of State has this to say about driving in South Korea:

"The ROK's roads are well paved, traffic lights are functional, and most drivers comply with basic traffic laws.  However, the Republic of Korea has a significantly higher traffic fatality rate than does the United States.  Causes of accidents include excessive speed, frequent lane changes without signaling, running red lights, aggressive bus drivers, and weaving motorcyclists.  You should be aware that motorcyclists sometimes drive on the sidewalks, and drivers of all types of vehicles do not always yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks."

That sounds about right.  To add a bit to Mike's description, I'll share a couple of incidents we witnessed on our drive up to Dongducheon yesterday.  First, we encountered the "five lanes suddenly melt down to three lanes" phenomenon, and Mike had to cut off a Hyundai Genesis to not be run off the road.  Thankfully a '97 Hyundai Sonata (a ddong cha, for those of you who speak Korean) will get the right of way over a Genesis almost every time.  We made it onto the freeway, and drove along without incident for a while, until we hit a stop light.  We came to a stop, along with 2 other lanes of traffic, and sat there while a motorcycle buzzed between lanes and scooted through the intersection, and through the red light, just ahead of the cars turning into that lane.  A few intersections later, we were sitting at a red light when another car drove around us on the shoulder in order to run the red light.  And finally, we were almost to the base in Dongducheon when we were stopped, yet again, at a stoplight, and a public bus pulled out of the bus lane, in front of our lane, and--no kidding--halfway through the intersection, inching forward until it was almost completely through the intersection when the light turned green.  Of course, I prefer these kinds of crazy driving maneuvers to some others because they don't make my position in traffic any less safe.  That is, until I'm driving the vehicle that's turning left on a left turn arrow while the motorcycle or car or public bus is running the red light...