By Here is an unfortunate accident that has left one airmen in critical condition at the hospital:
A Kunsan airman remains in critical condition after a Sunday night taxi crash left him and a second airman hospitalized, according to the base and local police.
The airmen were returning from downtown Gunsan City when the crash occurred about 11:30 p.m., according to a base news release. The taxi they were riding in was found upside down about five miles from base, near the A-Town or International Culture Ville bar and restaurant district, Kunsan spokesman Capt. Shannon Collins said Tuesday.
A Gunsan City police spokesman said the crash occurred on an unlit country road on the outskirts of the city. The taxi hit an illegally parked car and careened into a shallow irrigation canal adjacent to a field of rice paddies, he said.
One of the airmen remained unconscious and on a respirator Tuesday, the police spokesman said. He did not know how fast the taxi was traveling but said alcohol was not involved in the crash.
The men, both E-3s in their mid-20s, are members of the 8th Security Forces Squadron, Collins said. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but I think most people reading this know how common illegally parking on the site of the road is in Korea, which is what led to this accident.
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
4:19 am on March 10th, 2010 1
Wear seatbelts
never shake your baby
don't drink and drive
don't sexually assault others
don't use illegal drugs
The list goes on and on and on for ALL STUPID PEOPLE. What happens is the PACOM Commander sees crap like this and blames the command who has no other recourse than to tighten the screws on the thumbs of everyone. I don't know why people need to be told things like never shake your baby, I guess its because they are really stupid.
Oh wait, there is an argument here….. Some will claim that some taxis don't have seatbelts. Well that may be so, but they sure do have door handles and I have always been able to get out of every Korean taxi I have ever entered.
No excuses.
6:03 am on March 10th, 2010 2
You are out of line!
6:34 am on March 10th, 2010 3
Typo in title
Accidend > Accident
6:39 am on March 10th, 2010 4
I pray all the airmen pull through, especially the one still in critical condition.
12:46 pm on March 10th, 2010 5
2:32 pm on March 10th, 2010 6
If it happened at 1130 PM the driver was probably driving at a high speed becasue they had to be back on base to make the curfew. The curfew causes problems.
6:40 pm on March 10th, 2010 7
I've never been from Gunsan to A-Town, but is it close to a 30 minute ride?
8:21 pm on March 10th, 2010 8
They really need to change the laws about seat belts here, not that I think the current law should be used as a pretext to risk the lives of passengers so they can exit the cab faster in order to maximize the number of fares to be picked up in a day.
10:50 pm on March 10th, 2010 9
Maybe they should also try to consistently enforce the traffic laws they already do have. It seems like taxi drivers are exempt from most of them.
One law I would like to see is making illegal to have a TV or DVD video display available to the driver. For some reason I don't feel safe as a passenger in a vehicle when the driver is also watching TV.
11:44 pm on March 10th, 2010 10
The worst driver I've seen this week passed cars by going in rightmost lane and then cutting them off through the intersection and stopped in the middle of the intersection when the light turned red. He also wasn't wearing his seat belt. He nearly caused 3 accidents in the span of 500m…The driver was a police officer in his cruiser.
2:19 am on March 11th, 2010 11
Good call on the "probably trying to beat curfew" point. I once arrived at Gunsan bus terminal with very little time left before my boat left from the harbor. I asked the taxi to go at it, and would have deserved it if i had died, but that 15-minute ride was whittled down to 5 or 6 in short order.
In London, if you demand that the driver break every law out to get you there on time, he will have none of it. In Korea, it is seen as a legitimate demand. A seatbelt may well help, but this is clearly not a good policy regardless.
A good policy which i got away with exploiting. Others, inevitably, are less lucky.
3:19 am on March 11th, 2010 12
Juan: "Typo in title Accidend > Accident"
GI: "Thanks I got fixed."
I really, really hope your response was also a typo… otherwise, I would classify that as an over-reaction.
I think it would make you less attractive, both as a servicemember and as a man, to be neutered…
…especially over the simple misspelling of "accident".
10:21 pm on March 15th, 2010 13
Its unfortunate what happend! I will attribute this to speeding by the cab driver! Remeber, TAXIS and BUSES think they are exempt from traffic law here in Korea!! Too Bad the cops let em off always!
3:39 am on March 16th, 2010 14
It's not just the taxis and buses <a>(see here).
3:43 am on March 16th, 2010 15
Screwed that up. Let's try again. (see here)
6:51 am on March 16th, 2010 16
So you're saying that shaking your baby, drinking and driving, sexual assault, use of illegal drugs and not wearing your seatbelt are all ok? Out of line? Had these airmen been wearing their seatbelts would they have been ejected from the car? Would this had ever been a story? Where am I out of line?
Maybe I don't have any expeirince in automobile crashes even though I have driven for 30 years in 11 countries owned probably 20 different cars and motorcycles, but does that mean I am lucky or I am a pretty good driver? Why would I get into someone's car (especially someone I don't know anything about) and place my life in to their hands by not even wearing my seatbelt? Where has all the logic gone? Why does someone simply reply "You are out of line!" I would rather be out of line than in a hospital because of stupidity.
I thank God often that I am not one of the people targeted in the "don't shake your baby" styles of media campaigns. I also feel sympathy for those who need to be told such things.
7:22 pm on March 21st, 2010 17
8:26 pm on March 21st, 2010 18
Well. One of the passengers Passed away last week. My condolences to his family.
11:45 pm on March 21st, 2010 19
It IS illegal for taxi drivers to have a TV/DVD display on. That doesn't stop them from watching one anyway, though. They ARE allowed GPS/mapping units.
DMB has become a HUGE problem here. Not just drivers but pedestrian's eyes also are glued to their dmb equipped phones.
Effin' scary sometimes!
1:17 am on April 27th, 2010 20
Incorrect about the TV/DVD units in taxis, as of late last year. The rule was overturned by courts last year:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8339680.s…
Not that I think it should be allowed. If anything, they should be able to take away a driver's license for doing something so irresponsible as watching crappy ass Korean dramas while driving.
2:02 am on April 27th, 2010 21
Thanks for the update, MIKEINSEOUL. I'll have to let my taxi-driver friend know he doesn't need to miss his nightly programming anymore! He has TWO screens.
As if Korea doesn't have enough traffic problems already.
7:02 pm on August 6th, 2010 22
For all the idiots that posted stupid stuff on here you need to shut up. Those Airman were my friends and oh btw one of them died because the cab driver was driving at a high rate of speed and hit a solid dirt hill trying to avoid something in the road. Maybe if i kill you or one of your friends you will know what it's like.. Have a great day
8:00 pm on August 6th, 2010 23
#22
How old are you? 12 years old? When people make threats on the Internet, do they expect to feel the earth tremble?
11:10 pm on August 6th, 2010 24
"Maybe if i kill you or one of your friends you will know what it’s like"
No…no…no. Please don't do that.
I just don't know what I'd do without my good friend, who's name is "Mark".
It would be terrible if he was killed… Mark, that is.
Please don't kill MARK, my good friend… even though I'm sure I wouldn't learn my lesson any other way.
(Leon, if Mark gets killed, you have to split whatever you win on Korea Finder with me… and you had better not try to shaft me or I'll tell him about the time the airmen died in a taxi and you said)
12:15 am on August 7th, 2010 25
This is to the individual that had the friend in the TAXI…..I also knew the individual and I just wanna say.. You probably know that its a LAW for service members to wear a seat belt Right?? Sure the cab driver was driving like a bat outta hell…Well he passed away also…Because he was driving at an undetermined high rate of speed..Did Our deceased friend have a seat belt on? So don`t tell people here That "Maybe" if you kill one of their friends They would all know what it feels like!! Your the idiot!! and I mean that! Everyone here has at one time been associated with a death of a friend, a loved one or within the armed forces community!! We all have felt it before…Its nothing new.
6:58 am on August 7th, 2010 26
Opps! Sorry Just in case your tracking my ORL let me say I accidently found this site. BTW I have no friends but when the killing starts the guy mentioned in #24 has a name that sounds friendly. I'll leave now and not say a word about the – well you know.
5:40 pm on July 13th, 2011 27