Taxi Drivers and Me

This set of laminated rectangle cards was given to me by Trudi, my former Australian colleague. Each card has the name in Korean and English of each TOP school branch as well as frequently visited stops such as Geksa (downtown), EMart (grocery), the Jeonju theater district, Lotte(department store/hairlady/theater), and the bus and train stations.

Given all my visits to these places, I could easily find them if I were driving, but telling a taxi driver is another story. I don't need these cards for the bus, as I have mastered bus numbers, but I can't imagine what I'd do without the cards in really bad weather.

I've had few problems with taxi drivers, compared to other foreigners I have read about or met. Koreans even ask about my experiences in driving around Jeonju. Drivers are notorious for driving very fast and running red lights. I've been with a couple of these speed/red light runner guys, and it's a challenge. Note: red light runners not only drive through reds without stopping, but will come to a full stop and then drive through the light after a few minutes. Honest.

The truth is, I'm not afraid when I'm in the taxi, but when I'm walking I've almost been hit 3 times. There is a fairly large intersection near the school that I must cross through every day and within my first 2 months, I was nearly hit twice by taxis. In both cases, they were the "stop and then drive" type. Getting brushed from behind by a taxi is a shocking experience as the car came at me during a left hand turn.

And, here's an interesting statistic I just read with my evening adult class:

40% of all traffic deaths in Korea involve pedestrians.

Just think about that for a second.

Anyway, if you know me, you know that I am not taking this laying (or is it lying?) down (no pun intended). I now watch very carefully (unless they are coming behind me) and have literally stopped a taxi, full of people, as it stopped at a green light, drove around other cars (via the left hand turn lane) and into the intersection directly at me. I stuck out my arm to stop the guy and then pointed at the green pedestrian symbol to show that I still had the right-away, despite the fact that there was his big fat taxi sitting in the middle of the intersection. If nothing else, I think I shocked the liver out of the guy.

I love Korea! but know that I am starting to consider the Pedestrian Road Rage Movement.

Stay tuned.