Trapped on a Narrow Farm Road: Navigational Mishaps During Chuseok Travel

On the final day of the Chuseok holiday, countless vehicles returning home found themselves stuck for hours on narrow farm roads, 

On the final day of the Chuseok holiday, countless vehicles returning home found themselves stuck for hours on narrow farm roads, guided there by navigation apps. Social media platforms and online communities were flooded with posts sharing stories of how navigation systems, promising faster routes, led drivers into hours-long traffic jams in the middle of rural farmlands.

During the last day of Chuseok, a surge of stories emerged on social media about vehicles being directed by their GPS systems onto unexpected, narrow farm roads, resulting in a large-scale traffic jam. One user, A, shared, "My navigation app sent me down a strange farm road, and now I've been stuck for over an hour. Hundreds of cars are lined up." Photos showed cars tightly packed on a narrow road, with rice fields stretching out on either side.

The chaos centered around a farm road near Injoo-myeon, Asan-si, in South Chungcheong Province. Another user, B, described their experience: "The navigation said the farm road was faster, but now hundreds of cars are stuck, and it took me over three hours to get out." The photos B shared showed cars stalled on the farm road under the full moon, illustrating the scale of the problem.

This issue wasn't isolated. On the online community 'MLB Park,' another driver, C, explained that while traveling from Gwangju to Bucheon, they faced a similar situation. "The traffic on the West Coast Highway was unbearable, so I followed my GPS to a detour, but I ended up trapped on a farm road. It took five hours to get through just 2 kilometers," they lamented, describing scenes of people, including children, struggling to deal with the situation.

This navigational chaos played out on farm roads leading toward Pyeongtaek Lake from Injoo-myeon, Asan-si. Interestingly, all the affected drivers reported using the same navigation service.

Netizens responded with a mix of reactions: “The more congested it is, the more it’s better to stick to the highways,” and “Country roads are often worse during traffic jams.” Some even speculated whether the navigation app was designed to distribute traffic, while others recalled seeing cars taking farm roads and feeling relieved they stayed on the main route.

While navigation apps are undoubtedly helpful tools, this incident highlights that they aren’t foolproof in every situation. Especially during holidays like Chuseok, when roads are packed with travelers, it’s often wiser to stick to highways and avoid risky shortcuts that could end up causing more stress than relief.