They don’t teach it. Period. Mirrors are all you need in your car, so you never need to check to see if there’s a car next to you before you change lanes.

That might explain why Korean drivers are so accident prone and I spend a good deal of driving time A) acting defensively and B) shouting at them when they encroach into my lane. It happens a lot. They drive as if they are shopping al Wal-Mart and go from one side of the aisle to another for whatever they’re interested in. A two-ton car isn’t nearly the same as a shopping cart. Actually, they’re worse at the store and you actually have to ram their cart to get them out of the way.

The past two days I’ve been driving with MyeongHee. We go to her shop in the morning and I drive back by myself. Next week, she wants to drive herself and just keep the car all day. Works for me, except I’m worried. She doesn’t look in her blind spot when she changes lanes. I gently tried to explain that mirrors don’t show all around your car, but she explained that her driving school doesn’t teach to look over your shoulder so it must be OK. When I explained further the field of view the mirrors provided and even drew a few diagrams, that wasn’t enough. I then had her drive up next to some parked cars and tell me when she could see them in her mirror. Ok, she finally acknowledged that mirrors don’t show it all, but explained she’s just a beginner and she’d learn to do that head-turn later, its too difficult now.

Maybe I’m being overprotective and overbearing, but I try to always look in my blind spot and am sometimes surprised that there really was someone there. I harangued her until she promised she would do the blind-spot check. Am I being a back-seat driver, or doing her (and I) a favor by trying to prevent an accident?