Road to Heaven

By Declan Flynn

After having lived in Korea for nearly five years, I have grown to understand the hustle and bustle. Coming from the countryside in Ireland, there is obviously a big difference, but now, I also rush like a sheep when I hear the horn of a subway train or see the little green man flashing next to the pedestrian crossing. What I don't understand is the rules or etiquette of the roads in Korea. I am not addressing the incessant breaking of red lights nor am I commenting on the reckless changing of driving lanes without indicating. What makes my blood boil? The lack of respect for ambulances.

I have been to other countries like Italy where the driving is as chaotic as it is in Korea, but here is the first country I have been to where an ambulance receives the same respect as a regular commuter. Do drivers not realize that the person in the ambulance may die if they don't receive treatment? Five minutes can be the difference between life and death. Do they think that the ambulance driver is just being impatient and the sound of a siren is just like a honking horn? A driver with any respect for life would move over to the side and allow the onrushing ambulance pass, so the medical staff can arrive sooner at an accident scene or get to a hospital, and the injured person receive the treatment they require. .

This lack of courtesy and consideration has always infuriated me, and last night, my temper rose even more when I saw another incident of downright selfishness and uncivilized behavior. Two ambulances with sirens wailing, begging to be allowed to pass without delay, were waiting in a line of traffic near Hoegi Station. Not one car pulled over, even though the slip road to Kyunghee University was unoccupied. I asked my Korean fiancee ``How can this happen?" to which she had no answer. I know that in the time of Confucius, there were no such busy roads, but surely, he believed that a dying person or a person in urgent need of medical care supersedes the desire of a businessman to arrive to a meeting on time or a mother rushing to collect her kids from school.

Let's change the way of driving in Korea. The siren of an ambulance is a cry for help and that cry deserves to be heeded and respected. Pull over and save lives. Save the life of an injured grandparent, parent or child. You never know, it may be you or a loved one in that ambulance waiting in a line of traffic. Make the patient's trip a road to the hospital not a road to the morgue.

The writer is an instructor at Korea University. He can be reached at decfly@gmail.com.