The 3 Car Rule

Newcomers to Korea are often intimidated by the driving habits of the locals. Actually, driving in Korea today is relatively safe. When I first came it was a totally different story.

However, if you are going to drive here, you need to know the rules of the road, Korean style.

Korean law is the same as in the US. We drive on the right side of the road, and most of the traffic laws are the same as at home. It is the interpretation of the laws that leaves somewhat to be desired.

First, there is no real traffic enforcement. Cameras are used to catch speeders, however there is a sign a few hundred meters before the camera warning the motorists to slow down or get caught. So, traffic kind of undulates. It slows down for the cameras and speeds up after.

Traffic lights are rather interesting. Green means go, yellow means speed up, (kind of like in the US), but red only means stop if there is lots of traffic and other cars are at the intersection. Buses and taxis routinely go through red lights, but the average driver does the same. It is a lot better now than it used to be, but the propensity to run the red light has resulted in what Westerners call the three car rule.

It's very simple.

When your light turns green, wait for three cars to run the red light before you enter the intersection.

While this is a bit of an exaggeration, it's not far from reality. On more than one occasion when I have been guilty of pushing it just a little bit and entering the intersection just as the light turned red, only to look in my mirror and see the car several car lengths behind me following me through the intersection--long after the light had turned red.

I was talking to someone about it the other day, and we were waiting at the intersection to walk across the street. When the light turned, sure enough, we counted three cars that went through the red light before it was safe for us to cross.

Once you learn how the rules work, it's really quite easy to drive here. You just have to practice defensive driving and understand that the car beside you may just decide to cut in front of you and make a right turn.

The important thing is to not lose your cool, and don't get too upset. All you will do is to give yourself an ulcer, and the next driver will probably do the same thing.