Well, I’ve written quite a bit on what I love about Korea. But here’s a little jab at something that can be a bit frustrating, especially for Americans. I long ago learned to take traffic in general (and parking in particular) in stride while living here. Sure, it can be a bit tight at times, but the people also know well how to get along. In over 18 years of driving in Korea I’ve not witnessed a single case of road rage, and while they have their share of aggressive drivers, I learned long ago that being both defensive and proactive is a good driving strategy here.
The car culture is fairly new in Korea (I remember few privately-owned vehicles in the area while I was here 35 years ago), so people have grown up very suddenly with it lately. I think that’s why they’ve come to expect things to be a certain way – it’s their common experience, and they’ve all learned it together. And I’ve come to an understanding with this way of thinking I suppose. I mean, I know to expect the unexpected, and maybe that’s the key. I’ve said for years that I’m more comfortable driving in Korea than in big American cities. I know, for example, that if I’m in the right-hand lane at a stoplight, the guy in the lane to the left of me could very well try a right turn in front of me. And I’ll let him.
Korea’s a small country and it’s a good deal mountainous, so land on which you can build is pretty dear. For the longest time, highways were built on roads that were built on tracks that were built on paths – which led to narrow and twisting roads that would follow contours and cut between oddly-shaped rice paddies. Over the past few decades they’ve implemented better planning. They’ve levelled large tracts and built satellite cities over previously undeveloped land. These new cities are set out in a pattern and include wide roads, parks and trails.
But there’s still a lot of the old left. And when they put in a two-lane road anywhere near a residential area, I automatically know it’s actually a one-lane road with a parking lane. And parking here in Korea can get rather creative. I remember the first time I thought I was parked in at a public garage. I came out after spending the day at Lotte World Amusement Park in Seoul only to find a car parked across the back of mine. You can imagine I wasn’t too pleased, but when I found an attendant and explained my ire to him, he simply walked up to the car and pushed it out of the way. It was then that I learned one of the tricks to parking garages in Korea – just park behind someone and leave your car in neutral. It does take a bit of trust, but it works. All it takes is a little bit of space between the cars – enough that you can move them to get the open space behind you. I’ve had to push a few cars out of the way before. It’s a bit like Tetris.
But there are times the creativity gets a bit out of hand, and these are the times you just have to shake your head and roll with it. And whenever someone parks a car in the perfect spot to turn an open road into an infuriating puzzle to get through, it’s pretty obvious that there is very little awareness on the part of the offender
But we make due, and we wait our turns, and maybe we can learn a little patience along the way. At least that’s the best spin one can put on it.
