By GI Korea on November 6th, 2010 at 1:16 pm

Picture of the Day: Fatal Bus Crash In Seoul

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The left side of a #9000 bus after being crushed in a collision with a tour bus at the intersection of Euljiro 2-ga, central Seoul, yesterday. The accident caused severe congestion during the morning rush hour. [YONHAP

• simon
  9:56 am on November 6th, 2010 1

  ah, the Seoul bus system – training not required !

• PBAR
  10:41 am on November 6th, 2010 2

  I've seen enough wrecked buses in Korea to convince to wear a seatbelt on wear whenever possible…

• Zilchy
  2:18 pm on November 6th, 2010 3

  I had heard somewhere that an average of 32 people a day, die in auto related accidents in Seoul. Is this figure correct? That number seems a bit high?

• kushibo
  6:21 pm on November 6th, 2010 4

  Zilchy, this site says Korea has 12.7 traffic deaths per 100,000 people per year. The 50 million people in the country, then, would be about 6350 traffic deaths per year for the whole country. Dividing that by 365 days, and you get 17.4 deaths per day for the whole country. Assuming one-fifth happen in Seoul proper, that's some 1/10 the rate you cited.

  Even if the Wikipedia stats didn't include injured pedestrians, it's doubtful the number could get anywhere near that.

  Here and there in Seoul you see electronic signboards talking about the number of injuries and fatalities on Seoul streets from the previous day. Those numbers are usually 0 to 4. Someone I know insisted when they were first up that the one in front of Seoul Station indicated how many people had died the previous day on that one road, but that would mean unimaginable carnage.

• kushibo
  6:23 pm on November 6th, 2010 5

  By the way, if you have a reckless driver, gather information on the bus (e.g., license number or bus number — not just route number but the licensing number) and call and make a complaint to the complaint number (it should be posted in each bus, if they still do this system). The bus companies do have to pay fines in accordance with the number of complaints they get, and it does get some bus companies to get their drivers to slow down.

• Zilchy
  6:41 pm on November 6th, 2010 6

  Thanks, Shibo. I thought that number was a tad high. Although, the nature of the driving skills and the population in Seoul might lead one to believe that 4 people a day might be a legitimate figure. Maybe more Ford F150's will bring the number of dead to a respectable level.

• Tom
  8:30 pm on November 6th, 2010 7

  Zilchy, Shibo's numbers are fake. Do not believe him. Korea has ten million road deaths in a year. They deliberately kill each other and the Korean media is hiding the true numbers.

• kushibo
  9:16 pm on November 6th, 2010 8

  Tom, I have to admit that was pretty funny. I'm glad your handlers in Beijing allowed your profile to have a sense of humor this morning.

• Tweets that mention Picture of the Day: Fatal Bus Crash In Seoul | ROK Drop -- Topsy.com
  4:48 am on November 7th, 2010 9

  [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by KingSejong, GIKorea. GIKorea said: New blog post: Picture of the Day: Fatal Bus Crash In Seoul http://rokdrop.com/2010/11/06/picture-of-the-day-fatal-bus-crash-in-seoul/ [...]

• Teadrinker
  8:46 am on November 7th, 2010 10

  Gotta love the caption. No mention of whether anyone was injured, as if that's less important than the congestion it caused.

• See-men
  10:12 pm on November 7th, 2010 11

  #1

  Just like the Washington, D.C. WMATA bus service.

• Jeff
  1:14 am on November 10th, 2010 12

  Gotta love the caption. No mention of whether anyone was injured, as if that’s less important than the congestion it caused.

  My thoughts exactly; it's about the inconvenience to others. "I don't know you, therefore you don't exist in my world"…

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