third! or How a Homicidal Bus Driver Saved My Life
Korean bus drivers are insane. Now I have to think of a story to go along with it...

I have a week of commuting to and from work for something good to happen. For now how about I just back up my first statement.

Buses are the most dangerous vehicles on Korean roads. I say that having driven scooters (the second most dangerous vehicles) off and on for five years. My first year here, I used a scooter to travel around to apartments to tutor people in English. I was in a quiet corner of Suwon with wide roads but not much traffic. You'd wait five minutes for a light to change and no cars would cross. I'd often run lights, but only because other scooters would and I wanted to conform. Know who else runs lights? Buses. Korean bus drivers know only two moves: stomp on the gas or stomp on the brakes. It's hell if you're actually riding the damn thing. So how did a homicidal, law-breaking Korean bus driver save my life? Let me explain...

It was 9pm, and I was riding home after my last class. I pulled up to a red light in a very isolated part of town, and neglected to run it. I can't remember why; usually I would.

The light turned green, and also uncharacteristically, I paused before pulling into the intersection. Good thing, too, as just then a bus charged through right in front of me.

Here's a helpful diagram so you understand what's going on. Note that Koreans drive on the right.

I counted my lucky stars that I was in a slow mood that night and proceeded straight through.

Then, as I was exiting on the far side of the intersection, that car pictured to the right swung around the corner, hugging a tight right turn, and slammed into me. We couldn't've been going very fast, maybe 20 or 25 km/h, so I leapt off to safety and landed on my feet. The scooter was totalled. The driver got out, apologised, and we exchanged contact information. Note though that I didn't have a valid licence for this country, and technically I was working illegally on the wrong visa. My memory's faded but I'm pretty certain he offered to pay for my repairs.

Next day, I went to the scooter shop, where the mechanics were talking with my boss's wife, and all of them seemed concerned. Yet they knew absolutely no English and I knew virtually no Korean. I drew a diagram similar to the above, complete with traffic lights. It was then that they started to act surprised. It turns out the driver who hit me was blaming me, saying I ran the red light (when in reality he was the one who blew through a red, making a right turn without stopping). I stood to not only lose the repair money, but also be held responsible for damage to his car, and most likely deported.

They asked me if I was sure the light was green. I remembered the bus that had nearly killed me, and the relief I'd felt for waiting before gunning out into the intersection. Since I'd waited for the bus to pass, this logically meant I'd not only had the green, but it'd been green for several seconds. The bus and its maniacal driver were my salvation. Otherwise I'd be second-guessing myself, not able to say with certainty I had right-of-way.

My boss' wife called up the other driver and berated him into confessing, until even I started to feel sorry for him. Then I remembered he'd tried to get me in deep trouble just to save a couple hundred thousand won on repair bills. I knew even less Korean then, but it was vicious. The damage was paid for, and I was free to go on and get in future accidents (that don't involve buses).
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 13:19, 2 replies)

A quiet corner of Suwon?
Does such a thing exist?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 13:32, closed)

North Suwon
Yep, up in north Suwon near the edge of town, much to my boss' misfortune. I recently moved back to the area, and it's just as I remembered it. Massive apartment complexes, wide roads, and nobody around except schoolgirls and serial killers. I take a bus through the same intersection every day.

Here it is on Wikimapia, in case you know the city. The collision happened right where the X is, and it was about as empty as that satellite photo shows.
wikimapia.org/#lat=37.2983507&lon=126.9910687&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2
By the way, my diagram doesn't reflect it, but both roads were four lanes wide.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 14:13, closed)