Parking in Gyeongju (part 3)

As a rule, streets, driving lanes on major roads and freeways, and parking spaces are narrow. But Koreans have fallen in love with large cars. Fitting these cars into an infrastructure designed for small cars is a challenge; the likelihood of cars denting and scratching each other is high.

A very high percentage of cars have little foam blocks glued onto the doors. At first I thought that these were there to protect the car from getting damaged. But on reflection, that really wouldn't work: they can't keep the body safe from dents and scratches. It seems more likely that they are there to protect other cars from being dented by a thrown-open door. Or perhaps to protect the door edge itself from being damaged when thrown open into the side of another door.

Many of these foam blocks are blue and non-descript of shape.

At first I assumed that these were purchased by the car owner, but later I noticed the same kind of foam blocks on some new cars being transported by car trailer. So now I think they are probably put on at the factor to protect cars during transport to the dealer. I don't know if they are left on new cars when they are sold as a matter of course, or if the new owner can request not to have them removed.

Some foam door protectors come in other colors and inventive shapes, and I suspect that these have been purchased and attached by the car owner.

Here's a pink one shaped like ... hmm, maybe a cloud.

And here are pink ones that are wing-shaped.

And here's a car that appears to have supplemented the blue factory foam guard with some dog's-paw shaped foam pads that may be designed to protect the car from damage. Or perhaps they are just there to look cute.

By the way, if you look at the cars in my posts, you'll notice that nearly all the cars are white, black, or silver. It looks to me like well over 80% of the cars on the road are one of these three colors.

(This is post 3 out of 4 on the subject of parking. See earlier posts here and here and later post here.)