Dangerous roads of Korea

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Michael Breen

Dangerous roads of Korea

Posted : 2010-09-30 17:18

Updated : 2010-09-30 17:18

By Michael Breen

Korean roads are still among the most dangerous in the world, according to the latest traffic deaths figures published by the International Transport Forum.

For every 100,000 inhabitants, 12 were killed in traffic in Korea last year. This is the same as in Poland, and puts the two countries at fifth from the bottom of 33 countries whose statistics were studied by the OECD-linked think tank. The figure compares with 23.8 per 100,000 people in Malaysia and, at the other end of the scale, 3.8 in Britain.

The picture is even worse when the statistics are weighted by every billion kilometers driven. From that perspective, the risk of dying in an accident in Korea is highest in the world (20.1 deaths). The lowest risk is in Iceland with 3.9 deaths (Figures used in this measurement were for 2008).

That said, the figures are nevertheless heading in the right direction. Along with most other countries studied, road deaths in Korea have come down significantly in recent years. Deaths in 2009 are down 0.5 percent from 2008 and there has been an overall decline of 6 percent since the turn of the century. Significantly, motorcycle fatalities are down 39 percent in the last decade.

But why are the figures for Korea so high?

Among the factors that make Korean roads dangerous, one is the high level of emotion that can lead to poor decision-making. One cause here is the overall lack of consideration in the traffic culture. Drivers are often inconsiderate to the point of being stupid. Drivers frequently maneuver without signaling. Taxi drivers stop for fares without pulling over to the side. The backstreets often get gridlocked when one driver refuses to give way. Given how dangerous cars are, the net effect of such inconsiderate driving can be lethal.

But perhaps the most obvious reason for Korea’s poor safety record is the lack of respect for the law. The rules most often broken are making illegal turns, illegal parking, and running of red lights (especially at night). These violations are so accepted that a driver who stops when a light changes often finds himself beeped by an annoyed driver behind who then overtakes and runs the red light.

As this illustration suggests, the reason drivers participate in the widespread law-breaking is peer pressure. Everyone else is doing it. Leading the way are the very people who should be driving properly ― the professionals who drive taxis, buses and trucks for a living.

The reason the law breaking is so widespread is quite simple. The police do very little to stop it. Although there are the occasional campaigns to stop illegal U-turns, there seems to be no consistent enforcement of the rules of the road. Even when there is enforcement police seldom stop professional drivers. Bus drivers in particular seem to have carte blanche to misbehave on the roads.

One reason for poor enforcement is that policemen are reluctant to pull over people who they consider to be social superiors. They will have no qualms, however, pulling over drivers of small delivery trucks and motorcycles. This last may help explain why deaths in motorcycle category are down, although I suspect it’s because they’re all driving on the sidewalk which is less dangerous than the road.

Connected to the question of law is the failure to make non-drivers take responsibility for their actions. In this country, if someone is killed on the road, the driver of the car involved will be arrested. Thus when a schoolboy, who has not been properly trained by his parents and his teachers to respect traffic, darts out between parked cars to cross a road and is knocked down, the driver who happened to be there in his way is held responsible.

But when blame and punishment are meted out wrongly, no lesson is learned from tragedy. After thousands of traffic deaths, school children in this country are still not adequately taught how to properly cross the road. Kindergartens make some effort but safety is not drilled into them as it is in many other countries.

Until it is, and until the law is properly and responsibly enforced, Korean roads will remain dangerous.

Michael Breen is an author, former foreign correspondent and the chairman of Insight Communications, a public relations consulting company. He can be reached at mike.breen@insightcomms.com.