Culture of Flashing Lights

There is a good discussion going on over at Lost Nomad over this article about how Korea is looking at changing fire engine colors in order to make them stand out more so motorists will yield to fire engines.  For those unfamiliar with Korea, motorists here usually do not make way for fire engines or ambulances very regularly.  In my opinion it is because of all the flashing lights they see on the road anyway.  The police in Korea drive around often with their lights on for no reason.  Than you have tow truck drivers doing the same thing.

The best example I can give you of how absurd the flashing light culture in Korea is, is that one time while driving between Uijongbu and Dongducheon in my HMMWV we yielded on the side of the road for vehicle with flashing lights coming up behind us.  The vehicle with the flashing lights ended up being a KT Internet man.  He had lights installed on his car so he could cut through traffic and run red lights to respond to the latest Internet emergencies I guess. 

Is it any wonder when people see flashing lights they don’t yield when it could just be another Internet emergency?