The fender bender… X 2
I was in Kangnam tonight…. Well, I live in Kangnam, so it stands to reason that I’m in Kangnam a lot these days. Anyway, as I was walking down the street, I saw 2 fender benders tonight.
The first one was between a car and a truck in front of it. I think the car in the rear bumped into the truck in front during a rush hour stop and go. I couldn’t really see any visible damage. What struck me as odd was the fact that the drivers and passengers all got out and STOOD in the middle of the street next to slowly moving vehicles while arguing. These people are blocking an entire lane arguing whose fault the accident was—in rush hour! It’s bad enough that the cars are doing 2 miles an hour already. Now, an entire lane is blocked for God knows how long. They exchanged information with each other but they refused to move their vehicles.
In the U.S., I believe the correct procedure is to check for injured party. If there is no injured party who could be further injured by moving the vehicles, then you are supposed to move the vehicles out of the way of the traffic. Then you are supposed to politely exchange information and leave. As far as I’ve seen, people follow this procedure very well.
About 2 hours later, I saw another fender bender a couple of blocks away. This time it was between a taxi and a bus. By looking at the aftermath, I can deduce the following. The taxi was next to curbside and it was making a lane change to the left when it rammed into an oncoming bus. After the accident, the bus was in its own lane. However, the taxi had invaded into the lane occupied by the bus. It was clearly an unsafe lane change attempt by the taxi. Now, the entertainment begins. Both the taxi driver and the bus driver are upset. They are taking pictures with their camera phones and they are marking the asphalt around where the tires of the vehicles are. All the while they are doing this, they are shouting at each other, making gestures as if they are going to hit each other and just being plain silly. I’m sure this accident was nothing silly to them. I’m sure it was something very serious indeed to the parties involved. However, from where I was standing, it looked very silly. Once again, the vehicles are not moving. The bus is blocking an entire lane during rush hour!
From what I hear, when you are in an accident in Korea, you are supposed to call an insurance agent right away. Then, the insurance agent comes to the spot and determines who was at fault. So, I guess you are not supposed to move the vehicles until the insurance agent gets there? What on Earth kind of procedure is this? I suppose after living here for a while, I’ll gain a better understanding of how this procedure works and why it “makes sense.” But, for now, I don’t understand it. When I find out why it makes sense, I’ll be sure to write about it.
The first one was between a car and a truck in front of it. I think the car in the rear bumped into the truck in front during a rush hour stop and go. I couldn’t really see any visible damage. What struck me as odd was the fact that the drivers and passengers all got out and STOOD in the middle of the street next to slowly moving vehicles while arguing. These people are blocking an entire lane arguing whose fault the accident was—in rush hour! It’s bad enough that the cars are doing 2 miles an hour already. Now, an entire lane is blocked for God knows how long. They exchanged information with each other but they refused to move their vehicles.
In the U.S., I believe the correct procedure is to check for injured party. If there is no injured party who could be further injured by moving the vehicles, then you are supposed to move the vehicles out of the way of the traffic. Then you are supposed to politely exchange information and leave. As far as I’ve seen, people follow this procedure very well.
About 2 hours later, I saw another fender bender a couple of blocks away. This time it was between a taxi and a bus. By looking at the aftermath, I can deduce the following. The taxi was next to curbside and it was making a lane change to the left when it rammed into an oncoming bus. After the accident, the bus was in its own lane. However, the taxi had invaded into the lane occupied by the bus. It was clearly an unsafe lane change attempt by the taxi. Now, the entertainment begins. Both the taxi driver and the bus driver are upset. They are taking pictures with their camera phones and they are marking the asphalt around where the tires of the vehicles are. All the while they are doing this, they are shouting at each other, making gestures as if they are going to hit each other and just being plain silly. I’m sure this accident was nothing silly to them. I’m sure it was something very serious indeed to the parties involved. However, from where I was standing, it looked very silly. Once again, the vehicles are not moving. The bus is blocking an entire lane during rush hour!
From what I hear, when you are in an accident in Korea, you are supposed to call an insurance agent right away. Then, the insurance agent comes to the spot and determines who was at fault. So, I guess you are not supposed to move the vehicles until the insurance agent gets there? What on Earth kind of procedure is this? I suppose after living here for a while, I’ll gain a better understanding of how this procedure works and why it “makes sense.” But, for now, I don’t understand it. When I find out why it makes sense, I’ll be sure to write about it.
posted by Jonathan J. Kim at
5/11/2005 09:41:00 PM
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