Ah, the things I do to entertain myself. Or the neighbors. It took a few weeks of offering snacks, but I finally got my dog to bow on greeting someone like they do here in Korea. The Koreans that have watched her do this think she’s very smart. I think she’s just motivated by food.

Have a look.

Nighttime here in Korea the road rules seem to change. When it gets late and traffic eases up, traffic lights are mere suggestions. It’s rare to see a car stop at a light late at night when there’s no cars at any of the other corners of the intersection. Especially when its a taxi. They have little disregard for rules anyway, even in daytime, but at night they are particularly unprincipled.

On many of the major roads, crosswalks have traffic lights. There’s no cross traffic except for pedestrians (Presbyterians if your name is Jessica.) Most cars just slow down long enough to see if there’s anyone there and then blow right through the light if they don’t see anyone.

And therein lies the problem. If they don’t SEE anyone.

Last night I was taking MyeongHee back home across town. Midway through town, traffic slowed to a crawl. It must have just happened, because the traffic jam was short – only 200m or so. When we got up  to the accident, it was apparent what had happened. Some poor schmuck was trying to cross the street at the crosswalk on the busy road that parallels the river. A taxi had plowed into him and knocked him 10m  up the street, shattering most of the lights on the taxi’s front end. I think he was dead. There were four or five people standing around him as he lay on the ground, but no one was comforting him, checking him out or otherwise even covering him up (it was pretty chilly and his shirt had been yanked up around his shoulders.)  If not for his t-shirt hanging out, he would have been hard for me to see on the ground as he had mostly dark clothes on. That’s not his fault, though.

He was simply trying to cross the street at a crosswalk and got nailed by a taxi who “looked” but apparently didn’t see anyone.

How do you know when it’s safe to run a red light in Korea? When you don’t see the police lights. Their red and blue lights are always on. Very easy to spot in the day and even more so at night. If you don’t see flashing lights, there’s no cops. I’ve never seen any unmarked cars in this country.  I’m not sure why they do that. It is what it is.

If it’s late at night, you don’t see police lights and you don’t see anyone walking the crosswalk, its safe to run the red light.

For you in the car, that is.