There's always a random situation that happens that just really shakes you up and changes your thinking about something. Sometimes it's a big situation that happens but many times it's not. Mouse Doctor's scooter accident on Wednesday was one of these situations and it was a big one.
With one of my K-Crew boys being a professional motorcross racer and another just having way too much money and investing a chunk of it into bikes, scooters have always been in abundance and a common "toy" among my K-Crew. Snickers and I have two scooters but in total we've had four in the past few years.
My friends back in Canada always joked about Asian woman drivers being the worst drivers in the world and now I live in Asia, where almost all of the drivers here are Asian and half are female... great.
But despite living among the so-called worst drivers in the world and seeing first hand how aggressive Korean drivers are here, I feel much safer on my scooter than I do in a car. Perhaps my perspective it a bit messed, because while many see a car as providing more protection if hit, I see it as a bigger target to get hit. Whereas on my scooter Gotti, I can simply weave in and out and dodge whatever crazy driver comes my way. And of course there's the fact that it's socially acceptable and practiced for many scooter drivers to ride on the sidewalk. If I'm really uncomfortable on the streets of Cheonan here, I can simply hope up on the sidewalk and travel along it with the walkers and joggers.
The driving in Korea is pretty crazy, I must admit it. I've come to believe that if you can drive a car in Korea than you can handle any worldly traffic, especially if you can drive through Seoul -- that's the real tester!!! I'm always telling Snickers, I wonder why I don't see an accident everyday because first of all people crossing the street never do look both way and many of them have their eyes glued to their cell phones. Occasionally I'll come up to a side street corner where there's someone's call food delivery scattered all over the road, clear evidence some random delivery scooter got hit. But I very rarely see an accident.
Snickers is quite the aggressive driver and he's reacts quite aggressively too to other drivers who cut him off -- hello, punching a bus!!! Usually he does his "death stare", a common reaction by most Korean men -- they pull up beside the car that just cut them off and then give a mean, sturdy stare, letting the other driver clearly know that they're ticked. Usually it's either responded with one of three reactions; either the other driver tries to avoid turning their head and catching the stare, they respond with a simply bow of their head to signify they're sorry, or they stare back. Staring back always acts as a potential spark for yelling between the drivers or even pulling over to yell at each other. I've seen many curbside stare downs and yelling, both as a random witness in a passing car and with Snickers being a participant.
As for me, I used to mumble to myself whenever someone cut me off but these days I've resorted to do something that always leaves the other driver confused -- I give them a thumbs up and yell out "Good job!!!" I'm always sure to accompany it with a big smile from ear to ear and you'd be surprised at just how confused it leaves drivers. Most of them know they've cut me off but me giving them thumbs up and reacting in this manner,... oh I sure video tape it sometime, seriously.
I never viewed me driving Gotti as being so dangerous even though I have had my fair share of accidents.
My scooter accidents:
1. My Notorious Ex had been teaching me how to drive his scooter when he insisted I test out the big roads. He drove ahead of me on his other scooter so I followed him out to Lotte Mart. When an ambulance came racing through the intersection, a car in front suddenly backed up. My Notorious Ex backed up too but with me still coming forward we kind of backed up/drove into each other.
2. Totalled Panty Boy's racing bike out in Daejon after he crashed right ahead of me and I had a split second to decide whether to jack knife the bike or drive over him. I jack knifed the bike, sending me flying through the air and crashing into a jewelry stand on the other side of the street. I was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital where I stayed for the weekend.
3. I was driving Chetto Girl home late at night when a couple fighting in their car ahead of me suddenly backed up and backed right into Gotti. I got out to yell at the driver but ended up yelling at the passenger, the boyfriend who continued to yell and scream at his girlfriend.
4. A young guy at the parking lot at Yawoori pulled up so fast and so close to my scooter, clipping one of my mirrors. I still think he did this on purpose though because he insisted we go to the scooter shop together and when we did he suggested coffee. When I told him no thanks he then insisted perhaps I'd let him buy me dinner then and maybe a movie too. When I asked him if he'd buy my husband a ticket, all extra bonuses that came with getting hit by him were quickly dropped.
5. While on my way to tutoring out in Asan, a taxi randomly took a sharp turn to pick up a passenger, causing him to turn right into me. I went flying, my scooter landed on me and if I hadn't managed to pick up my scooter and confront the taxi driver he would have driven away. He had stopped, sure, but when he realized I was a foreigner, he had a bit of a freak out and got back into his taxi. I banged on the back of his hood and made him stop. Still don't know how I managed to get Gotti off of me and never did find my other shoe but I was hit so hard my wedding ring was knocked off (thankfully I found it) and had to spend a week and a bit in the hospital.
6. I was turning a corner just by my house when a car driving fast down a one-way street the wrong way jetted in front of me. I ended up crashing into his tire and he yelled at me, as if I was in the wrong. Picked the wrong foreigner to yell at because I yelled back and made sure everyone around knew what I was saying (spoke in Korean). Many of the surrounding shop owners I am familiar with came out and one noted that he was so lucky Snickers wasn't there -- my neighbors all know about Snickers! I wasn't injured, just really shaken up, and it meant I had to then drive to Hulk's with a pounding heart I could hear through my chest.
Wow, that's a lot of accidents actually but still nothing compared to Snickers' long list of car run-ins, woozers. All of my accidents I've walked away from with the exception of the one in Daejon. I couldn't even sit on my one side for a solid month.
While visiting Mouse Doctor, we got talking about our scooter accidents but I still couldn't shake the spookiness I felt from this accident that had put him into the hospital. He would have died had it not been for his helmet and scooter padded outfit he was wearing. But even so, even though he was wearing protection, the emergency crew that showed up to put him into the ambulance noted that they have no idea how he survived that crash. He was doing 150km/hr and when that man pulled an illegal U-turn, it sent Mouse Doctor flying halfway down the street.
... and on that note, Snickers and I have started to wear our helmets. We wore our helmets when we went to Granny-Kim's but I must admit I've only ever worn my helmet when I knew I was going for a drive longer than 15 minutes.
A head of nice hair is going to mean nothing if my head becomes a speed bump. That's a nasty visual but ain't it the truth!!!
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