What happened to Korean motorists?
2012-01-22 03:42 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
unreal.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
omonatheydidKoreans’ driving distance virtually same as Americans’
The general belief would be that American motorists drive far greater distances than Koreans because they reside in a much bigger nation.
That is not the case, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) Thursday. The average daily distance traveled is 36.1 kilometers per vehicle for Koreans compared to 36.6 kilometers for Americans.
The figure was 26.3 kilometers for Japan, whose territory is comparable to that of Korea. MKE officials have struggled to come up with an explanation.
``American households maintain multiple vehicles while Koreans typically run only a single family car,’’ MKE Director Son Byung-ho said. ``Accordingly, the average driving distance per automobile may be the same between the two countries although Americans spend much more time behind the wheel.’’
Experts point out that the daily driving range is more about automotive culture, national income and tax systems rather than about territory size.
``Over the past several years, the driving distances in the United States have not changed much. By contrast, those of Korea have rocketed as people raise their reliance on cars here,’’ professor Kim Pil-soo at Daelim College said.
``Plus, an increasing number of Koreans take to the highways on weekends for leisure activities in line with rising income. This has substantially increased the average driving range.’’
With regard to Japan, Kim said that the nation levies heavy charges for running automobiles including prohibitively high expressway fees, which encourages people there to take public transportation.
The MKE also announced the energy usage of Asia’s fourth-largest economy along with the average driving distance.
Korean farmers and fishermen increased their power consumption by 37.7 percent during the 2007 to 2010 period, compared to the country’s average of 9.8 percent during the same period.
The MKE said that the cheap electricity charges for farmers and fishermen are responsible for the abrupt rise. Currently, the rates they pay cover around a third of costs necessary to generate electricity.
In an initiative to help farmers and fishermen, the Seoul administration has kept electricity bills unchanged over the past 11 years despite a steep hike in the cost of raw materials such as crude oil.
``Most of the rises in the farming sector are attributable to the increased dependence of electricity-powered heaters and dryers, which have replaced petroleum-based ones,’’ Son said.
``The cheap electricity rates seem to prompt farmers and fishermen to turn to electricity-enabled equipment, which eventually led to the rocketing demand of power in the rural areas.’’
Source: koreatimes
The general belief would be that American motorists drive far greater distances than Koreans because they reside in a much bigger nation.
That is not the case, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) Thursday. The average daily distance traveled is 36.1 kilometers per vehicle for Koreans compared to 36.6 kilometers for Americans.
The figure was 26.3 kilometers for Japan, whose territory is comparable to that of Korea. MKE officials have struggled to come up with an explanation.
``American households maintain multiple vehicles while Koreans typically run only a single family car,’’ MKE Director Son Byung-ho said. ``Accordingly, the average driving distance per automobile may be the same between the two countries although Americans spend much more time behind the wheel.’’
Experts point out that the daily driving range is more about automotive culture, national income and tax systems rather than about territory size.
``Over the past several years, the driving distances in the United States have not changed much. By contrast, those of Korea have rocketed as people raise their reliance on cars here,’’ professor Kim Pil-soo at Daelim College said.
``Plus, an increasing number of Koreans take to the highways on weekends for leisure activities in line with rising income. This has substantially increased the average driving range.’’
With regard to Japan, Kim said that the nation levies heavy charges for running automobiles including prohibitively high expressway fees, which encourages people there to take public transportation.
The MKE also announced the energy usage of Asia’s fourth-largest economy along with the average driving distance.
Korean farmers and fishermen increased their power consumption by 37.7 percent during the 2007 to 2010 period, compared to the country’s average of 9.8 percent during the same period.
The MKE said that the cheap electricity charges for farmers and fishermen are responsible for the abrupt rise. Currently, the rates they pay cover around a third of costs necessary to generate electricity.
In an initiative to help farmers and fishermen, the Seoul administration has kept electricity bills unchanged over the past 11 years despite a steep hike in the cost of raw materials such as crude oil.
``Most of the rises in the farming sector are attributable to the increased dependence of electricity-powered heaters and dryers, which have replaced petroleum-based ones,’’ Son said.
``The cheap electricity rates seem to prompt farmers and fishermen to turn to electricity-enabled equipment, which eventually led to the rocketing demand of power in the rural areas.’’
Source: koreatimes
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 04:33 pm (UTC)Anyway, living half your life stuck in traffic is no fun.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 05:12 pm (UTC)I feel the transportation in Korea is a lot better but then again I've only lived in Jeju and visted Seoul. I don't know about the rest. :/
no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-24 01:49 am (UTC)I used pretty atypical cities as references, but most of the ones people think of first when they think of America are the ones that are most stereotypically American. And they're in the vast minority.
And if you're American, I'm sorry for making assumptions and speaking for you.