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Monday May 29, 2006

South Korea to introduce mandatory 'no-driving day' once a week for officials

SEOUL (AP) - South Korea will introduce a mandatory weekly "no-driving day'' for government officials, a measure aimed at conserving energy as oil prices rise, a government ministry said Monday.
Under the new initiative, set to start June 12, workers are obligated not to drive cars for one day out of each Monday-Friday working week, with the day determined by the last number on their license plates, said the Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry.
Violators are not subject to fines but will be barred from entering government buildings, state-run agencies and local government offices across the country, said ministry official Jang Hong-joo.
The new measure will save an estimated 160 billion won (US$168 million; euro132 million) a year, compared with the current system that mandates public servants and officials at state-run organizations not drive their cars one day out of every 10.
South Korea is the world's seventh-largest oil consumer, according to the ministry.
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Just my humble opinion!

There has been some form or another of "no-driving days" in Korea for some time now. Of course, as an American working on base, I've never had to adhere to these rules, but I don't see where Koreans do either.

The first one, as I recall, was the "ship-bu-jay" (십부제) - where you weren't allowed to drive your car if the last number in your license plate matched the last digit in the date, i.e., if the last number of your license was 3, you couldn't drive you car on the 3rd, 13th, or 23rd or the month.

Then they came up with the "ja-yool-yo-eel-jay" (자율요일제) which was the same concept, except it is based on the day of the week. You have a sticker on your car indicating a day of the week (I think Saturday and Sunday are excluded) and you're not supposed to drive your car on that day.

But these systems are largely voluntary and/or unenforced. The only time you'll have a problem is if you try to park your car in a gov't parking lot (at a courthouse, city hall, etc.). In the last five years, I have only seen one instance where they set up check points on the road and actively enforced either system. If I recall correctly, it was on a day when students were taking the college entrance exams. They wanted to make sure they could get there on time, so they tried to limit the traffic.

Didn't they also try to be strict about it during the 2002 World Cup?

For big events they have even used an odd/even number system which really helped cut the number of cars on the streets. But, they only enforced the system for a few days. I would vote for them using that system again if diplomatic and SOFA plates were exempted.

SOFA plates have always been exempted in these situations. You might get questioned about it - but once the police realize you under SOFA status they wave you through.