Skip to main content

Seoul street sitters disrupt traffic all because of a dare

Traffic on an eight-lane road through one of Seoul’s wealthiest districts was disrupted for half an hour by two men sitting in chairs in the middle of the road. It wasn’t a political protest but reportedly a dare agreed by the men, in their 20s, to see who could last the longest sitting in the road, the fashionable Gangnam Avenue. The two men were sitting in the road for half an hour before police arrived to arrest them, Korean media reported. A witness apparently said they didn’t appear afraid of getting h
March 18, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Traffic on an eight-lane road through one of Seoul’s wealthiest districts was disrupted for half an hour by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal two men sitting in chairs in the middle of the road Two Men Bring Seoul’s Traffic in Gangnam to a Standstill false http://www.koreabang.com/2012/stories/two-men-bring-seouls-traffic-in-gangnam-to-a-standstill.html false false%>.

It wasn’t a political protest but reportedly a dare agreed by the men, in their 20s, to see who could last the longest sitting in the road, the fashionable Gangnam Avenue.

The two men were sitting in the road for half an hour before police arrived to arrest them, Korean media reported.

A witness apparently said they didn’t appear afraid of getting hit. “They felt brave enough to wave to passing cars. When cars honked at them, they would just wave them by and laugh amongst each other,” the witness said. A man who may have been a friend went up to them to give them a bottle of water and encouragement.

Eventually some bystanders called the police, who took 20 minutes to arrive. They arrested of the men, a 23-year-old but the other escaped on foot.

The men reportedly faced fines of nearly US$13,300.

Although no motorists appeared to get angry or leave their vehicles to confront the men, the event went up on the Internet and attracted severe criticism from users. Many viewers said the men should face punishment including death.

Related Content

  • A free bridge? You’ve got to be kidding.
    February 18, 2015
    Nothing will stop construction of another bridge crossing the Detroit River to ease traffic congestion around North America’s most important economic border. The New International Trade Crossing will be entirely financed and owned by the Canadian government under a public private partnership. It will link the US city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, with the Canadian city of Windsor in the province of Ontario. The two cities already have the toll road Ambassador Bridge as well as a toll road tunnel and
  • Five things road construction crews should not do
    June 19, 2015
    Sometimes you need a sense of humour to complete a task. Sometimes that sense of humour can overstep the mark and not everyone will see the joke, as these five road construction site pictures show. Here are five things that construction crews should not do.
  • Parking bays too small for comfort
    February 18, 2015
    A UK local authority council has been criticised for what one resident has said is knowingly creating undersized parking bays. The parking area -- smaller than recommended -- makes it harder for motorists to make sure all their vehicle is within the legally allotted area. The council has been fining motorists for not having their cars completely parked within the parking bay, and that’s not fair, said the resident of Newbury town, just outside London. He reportedly went around measuring the parking bay, acc
  • VIDEO: Wheel loaders turn on each other in Chinese street battle
    April 19, 2016
    Irate Chinese construction workers decided enough was enough and took to the streets to settle their turf war, caught on video by a bystander. At one point, a wheel loader is seen charging in from the left, coming to the rescue of his overturned fellow loader. He almost rights the stricken machine that is lying on its side. After the dust had settle, their site managers might have had something to say about their use of company equipment. So where exactly to old dozers go to die? Are they carted of