Korea, taxis and TV's

On Saturday my wife and I took a taxi to go somewhere to try and fix my broken laptop. To no avail. But the trip was not uneventful. The driver had one of the TV's/hard drives that are increasingly common in taxis these days. During our ride the driver proceded to change the channel he was watching (whilst driving!) several times. At one stage he was flicking through the hard drive trying to find the music videos he wanted to see. We didn't crash - it was a Saturday afternoon, luckily not at night - but I was amazed at how this is legal.


I've posted about this before I think, but how can these things not distract the driver? I'm not a big fan of a lot of drivers here. Even if most are good behind the wheel there are a lot that take the mickey with the things they do, like using their phones while driving, people parking oin the pavement with no thought of pedestrians and those who stop to go to the corner store and leave their engines on. This is worse as surely it affects the drivers ability to drive safely. I know bad driving is a worldwide thing but I don't get this fad.

Seeing is believing

This is pretty hard for me to believe, but whilst out on a recent bike ride I found evidence that Koreans actually learn how to drive. Based on four years worth of first hand experience I can tell you that Korean drivers rank amongst the worst in the world. They seem to have nothing but contempt and disdain for the rules of the road - I presumed they just didn't know them or that they didn't exist here. Korean drivers come in mainly three categories. Bad, terrible and slow. There are exceptions but every single day I see appalling driving and feel like I'm likely to see an accident when I'm out and about. Koreans can be very respectful and courteous people. IF they know you. If they don't, then they are prone to ignore your rights, step over you or fly past you - this is if you are a Korean or not. Nationality doesn't seem to come into it. Perhaps this is an older generation problem but younger drivers aren't so great either.



Asking my wife, she tells me that for many years people before getting a license people didn't actual have any practice on roads and they learned to drive on 'courses' such as in the picture above. This is frankly ludicrous. I passed my test about thirteen years ago and all of my (expensive) driving lessons and the test were done on the road, barring one theory test. That's really the only way you should learn. Now this has changed here (I don't know when though). Nowadays Koreans actually have to practice on roads where there is traffic. I ask myself if Koreans will improve their skills over time or will things stay the same? And how hard are these tests? Whatever driving lessons they have, surely they don't teach them to drive whilst using phones.

Random Korean car picture

Taxi drivers in Korea allowed to watch TV

Often people complain about the laws in Britain and the lack of justice. Wherever you go and whatever country you're in that's a pretty common complaint. In Korea I have started to take more and more notice of what is going on around me, trying to be aware of where I stand as a current resident of this country and what is happening in the news and I've noticed things are not always quite right. From time to time I have heard of some outrageous miscarriages of justice here on this part of the peninsula. At times it feels like the place is still a third world war torn country when the opposite is true. Yes Korea still baffles me with its struggles to keep pace with the changes that take place here. One latest 'crazy' news story is to be found here.


To summarise the piece, taxi drivers in South Korea can continue to have televisions on their dashboards despite the obvious risks they can cause. Not every taxi driver has one but a great many do. At times I feel like I am taking my life in my own hands when I enter a taxi at night time. They operate with different rules to others on the roads, i.e. none at all. I have found Koreans to be the worst drivers I have come across so far in my life. If I had a child I would fear for its life when out walking around. Anyway one thing we see in many taxis is the TV screen on the dashboard that the driver watches when waiting for a passenger AND when he is driving them around. I once sat in the back as the driver drove me home while watching an Eric Clapton gig on his TV. I made it back home somehow but don't want to go through that again any time soon. Luckily we didn't get round to Tears In Heaven. Now this is not illegal. Ridiculous is what it is and it's a very Korean ruling. I 'look forward' to the next crazy legal story I come across, which should be any day now.

Dodging the Bullet

A new month. Things to be thankful for and things to look forward to, but some things never change.

There are many things that make some foreigners here cynical, tired, disillusioned and even bitter. One of these for me is the Russian Roulette I seem to play every day. I'm talking about people who drive here in Korea - cars and bikes. I'm not saying they're the worst in the world, I'm just saying they're the worst I've ever seen.


Perhaps drivers feel I have a Death Wish and they are only helping me out, but I doubt it. Are cars genuinely trying to run me down? At times I feel they are. Every day almost without fail, I see something on the road that makes me think WHY? In the past I've seen drivers nearly run over cripples, children and elderly people in the rush to get to wherever they are going. I've also seen people ignore ambulances and fire engines who rush to get to hospitals and fires, basically ignoring their critical needs. To me its a microcosm, at times, of parts of Korean society. The need to to something quickly, cutting corners and disregarding whatever and whoever stands in their way. I find myself asking the question, is the problem Korean drivers or just people in Daegu? To that I do not know the answer, but there is a failing in the mentality of some of the locals here who are quite simply insanely selfish.


Crossings are quite frankly a lottery at times, but one that is fixed because you know what is going to happen. It's green, time for me to cross right? Wrong. How dare I get in the way of someone who wants to run a red light. The truth is that night-time is even worse. Just tonight a driver went through a red light when I was half way across, oblivious to my own existence and perhaps so blinkered that he didn't even know he was speeding through a crossing. Of course this was not the first time this has happened to me. I have lost count of how many times I have felt in danger simply crossing the road.


Taxi drivers are a law unto themselves. They simply do what they want. They are totally different to everybody else. They have their own rulebook and nobody ever says anything about it. It beggars belief. And don't get me started on how many times they've ripped me off by taking me the long way home. I've not even mentioned the crazy deliverymen who zig-zag their days on bikes at high speed across the road and the pavement. Perhaps another time.


To some it may not be important but as someone who works with children all day long, I am acutely aware of how fragile they can be and of how they at times are unaware of how dangerous the world is. I could never bring up a child here as I would constantly worry that they would be run over and knocked down. Also, a worrying amount of Korean men here drive after getting hammered on soju and beer. Most foreigners have seen a hilariously drunk guy get in a car after a long night on the booze and laughed at him and how daft he looks, but there's a darker reality to what could happen. I wonder what the figures are on traffic incidents. They must be sky high.


No this is one game that I don't want to play again but I can't see a way out of it right now. I can only hope that I keep my wits about me and keep on dodging the bullet because I know that nothing here is going to change.