Driving in Korea

I consider myself a worldly man, I have been to 6 of the 7 continents and visited about 33 countries. Out of all those countries Korea has the absolute worst drivers. A standard morning commute of 20 minutes usually takes me from a nice mellow mood right down to bloodthirsty and homicidal.

Most of the other car drivers consist of two types:

a: The terrified to be behind the wheel so they drive 30 kph below the speed limit.
b: The street racer wanta be's that have seen "The Fast and the Furious" too many times.

Combining these two people makes for a real life bumper cars experience. To both these types anything outside the car does not exist, meaning they will change lanes without looking and/or cut across 5 lanes of traffic at the drop of a hat.

The taxi's come next. These guys believe that the traffic laws do not apply to them, and since there is little to no police enforcement, they are usually right. I have actually learned to curse fluently in Korean thanks to these folks (on a side note: Most of the taxi drivers in a 6 block area around my house can now curse in English).

Busses, these juggernauts of the road run red lights, stop in the middle of the road (not in the bus lanes) to let people off, and bulldoze their way through traffic with no thought of any one else on the road. I have been ran up onto the side walk by these guys changing lanes without looking (luckily no pedestrians were there at the time).

Mopeds, these guys are more reckless than maniacally depressed lemmings. There are not laws concerning these psychos. They drive on the sidewalks, on whatever side of the street they wish, I have even seen one running down beside a railroad track beside a train. If there is an accident involving a moped the automobile is automatically at fault.

Pedestrians and bicycles, both of these groups fall into the "If I ignore it, it can't actually be there." category. They walk/peddle into traffic without looking. Crosswalks and the associated lights are there only for decoration. About a month ago I was sitting at a red light when a kid on a bike rides straight into the side of my car and falls over (like a bird hitting a window). The kid gets up looks at me like it is my fault and then starts yelling at me in Korean (the yelling stopped when I got out of my car. It is amazing how sorry you can be when you realize the person you are berating suddenly has double your body mass.)