Parking

People park in a lot of interesting ways on Jeju. I’ve seen folks parked on side walks, in the street, and jutting out in weird directions. Creative parking is encouraged here. Since space is such a premium and parking garages are super small, people just double park

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 The white car below is blocking at least two cars and two motorcycles. The third care may be blocked too, especially for an inexperienced driver.

 To solve this parking dilemma people post their cell phone number in their window, and move the car when they get a call

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No Lights

This short video shows an example of a rotary without lights. These big, open intersections are everywhere in Jeju, especially in small towns. I don’t think this kind of traffic free flow would ever work in the United States.

Traffic Lights

As stated at the start of this mini-series on traffic, red lights are a suggestion. The further you are from a city the less seriously traffic lights are taken. I work in the country, and I cross a four lane highway daily. It is unusual to see cars stop, and the biggest stoppers are always using rental cars. If the driver sees a pedestrian waiting at a designated cross then they may stop for a red light, but there is no guarantee.

In the video attached you see the rotary below our house, and how drivers pay lip service to the red light.

Thanks for reading

Seatbelts

One of my co-teachers studied in the United States for a few months, so I asked her what she thought the strangest thing was. She quickly said she didn’t understand why people in the back seat wear  seatbelts. Since I asked her opinion I decided not to go on a diatribe about how seatbelts save lives.

Seatbelts are neither a legal matter nor popular in Korea. Babies sit on laps or crawl around the car as they please. Once I saw a car seat in the front; it was facing forward and the baby wasn’t strapped in. I’ve been in many cars where I fished the seatbelt out of the seat. Often in taxi’s they block the use of seatbelts by sealing the buckle with tape or tying back the belt. It’s one thing to choose not to wear a seatbelt, but to inhibit the use is mind boggling. Seatbelt use has been so ingrained in me that I feel really insecure when I’m not wearing one. 

There are arguments, particularly from those raised prior to “click it or ticket”, that seat belts should be a personal choice and that the government is infringing on individual rights to self determine how important safety is. It's a reasonable concern whenever government is suspected of going too far, but it also seems that it would have taken a long time to convince most people to wear seatbelts without a legal incentive. As a fully indoctrinated seatbelt wearer, I just can’t muster up the energy to protest this overstep of government authority. Perhaps this complacency paves the way for further government infringement on individual affairs, but what can I say? I like seatbelts, so I comfort myself with the belief that seatbelts are a public health issue and that auto accident fatalities are expensive.

I also found a few interesting statistics. According to the US Department of Transportation on p 142 of a report, the United States had 33,808 auto fatalities in 2009. Whereas the Education Institute of Transportation in Korea listed 342,233 fatalities in 2005 on p 2 of a report. Considering that Korea has a much smaller population, these numbers show a lot. There are many ways that I could illustrate with numbers, such as crashes per 100,000 people, percent of crashes with fatalities, percentage of fatalities wearing seatbelts, etc but I’m only a casual blogger. In short, wear your seatbelt! 

Taxis

Second in the roadway hierarchy are taxis. Taxis are more aggressive and agile than a bus, but they rank second due to size. When I first came to Korea, I tried to avoid riding in taxis as often as possible. Initially when forced to catch a cab I would spend the entire ride clutching the seat while intently watching the traffic.

Eventually I became desensitized to the perils of riding in a taxi. I reasoned that taxis were a prime opportunity to accept situations beyond my control. Once I made a decision to get in a taxi, almost nothing else was in my control. I couldn’t control poor driving by the cabbie or the fellow motorists so I would actively try to remain calm even while the occasional driver watched TV in his car instead of looking at the road. 

Taxis are abundant and affordable on Jeju. If you’re going somewhere within 15 minutes with one or two friends it is often cheaper and definitely more convenient to share a cab than to take a bus. A 50 minute taxi ride over the mountain and across the island is the equivalent of $30. This makes for a reasonable night out when you’re sharing the cab and the bill with your favorite dancing buddies.

Buses

Bus drivers on Jeju drive as if they are the only ones of any significance on the road. Passing on a narrow two lane road happens multiple times on every ride. Oncoming traffic politely pulls to the side when a bus initiates a game of chicken. I usually sleep to avoid worrying about all the risky driving that I have no control over. Still, often I’m awoken abruptly from the force of flying up in my seat as the bus races over speed bumps.  

The buses don’t have kneeling hydraulics to accommodate the elderly and injured. As soon as the passenger is on the driver slams the door, and punches the gas. Hunched little old ladies cling to bars and seats while they struggle to hoist themselves into a spot. Once I saw a Grandma hit the ground because she was knocked off balance by the force of the bus speeding away.  

Despite all the reckless driving only one of my friends has been in a bus accident and she wasn’t even injured. To give the bus system some credit, it keeps an admirably rigorous schedule. Buses run normal hours every single day regardless of storms, Sundays, or holidays. 

Similar to buses in the United States, at least one angsty teenager is blaring sharing their music. But on Jeju, the musical ambiance is completed by designer curtains. These curtains come in great colors and patterns, sometimes they have tassels. Here is an example of bus curtains; not the most outlandish I’ve seen, but it gives you a small idea anyway. Thanks for reading!