Korean street racing: the real experience

Yesterday was an interesting day. Two other friends and I all have May birthdays, so we had planned to have a combined "all day birthday fest" together. We spent the entire day tanning, grilling, and playing on the beach on a gorgeous day. Then we all headed over to some friends' house for some more partying. The night was going well, we taught some of them good ole Flip Cup (USA vs. the rest of the world), danced, played games, had cake, etc...Most of the people left a bit early but the few of us remaining were determined to keep the fun going. So we decided to head out to Yeongju's probably only existing nightclub....until...

The taxi was strolling (at a relatively fast speed) down a near empty street when a car on the right pulled out. And while the taxi driver swerved a bit out of the way, he didn't swerve far enough and the other car nailed us hard on the right side. In shock, we all got out to see that 2 of us had hit their heads on the window and one was lying across us and had hit her hip on a chair. I think I underwent a bit of whiplash. Thankfully none of us were seriously injured, but it was quite frightening. What was worse was trying to explain things in our barely non-existent Korean and their non-existent English.

We're all fine, but a little shaken up by what happened. We were told the driver who hit us went to the police station, but we want to know what is going to happen to us and whether or not they'll be reprimanded. But apparently all that happens is that the driver that hit us has to pay for the damages and our taxi driver was fired for allowing 5 passengers and not telling us to fasten our seatbelts.

The situation not only put a damper on our evening but it really scared me as a foreigner. I'm riding in cars nearly everyday during super busy traffic hours and have luckily never been hit. But the one time we're on a nearly empty street, we are. Koreans don't look over their shoulders when switching lanes so obviously someone's eventually going to get hit. I've lived abroad before but never imagined what it'd be like to be living in a country where you can't communicate with the locals during situations like this. It's scary to know that something bad could happen to you and no one would understand where you are coming from or know how to help you. It was a real slap in the face. I don't want to be put in a situation like that again and not be able to back myself up. I'm even more determined to work on my Korean now.

Anyway, it was pretty crazy and unfortunately, we just went home. I'm doing fine but it was just too surreal.

I really REALLY hate Korean drivers. It's one of the most screwed up driving systems.