God, can I make a U-turn once without the person trying to make a right onto the road i’m making a U-turn onto trying to cut me off? I have the right of way!
Why does it seem like NOBODY knows this? Just this evening, it happened TWICE - I notice that while I’m about to make a U-turn at this intersection, someone’s waiting to turn right onto the road I’m making the U-turn onto. I assume that they’re going to know that in this situation, I have the right of way and let me pass. Instead, each time, as soon as there was a gap in traffic - and I started to make my U-turn - they start to pull out, only to slam on their brakes and look bewildered as to why I’m slamming on mine and blaring my horn at them! It’s because I HAVE THE FUCKING RIGHT OF WAY, YOU IDIOT!
I would guess the majority of people don’t know that. I was never taught, it wasn’t ever covered in driver’s ed and it didn’t appear on my written test to get a license.
Well, I was taught in driver’s ed that the person making a right-hand turn has right-of-way over people making left-hand turns. Which I guess your U-turn is, sort of. So in this situation, I’d assume the person making the right-hand turn has the right-of-way.
In Colorado the statute sez you can make a u-turn only if it is safe to do so. Presumably if you blow someone’s mind with this unusual maneuver, it was not safe to do so. Also, left turns must yield to oncoming traffic. At some point your front end faces the right turner’s as “oncoming traffic.” Thenceforth, you become a left turner. IL may be different. I ain’t gonna look it up.
When I do a u-turn I just remember the most important thing my old man ever taught me about driving: “NEVER assume the other guy knows what you’re doing, NEVER assume that the other guy is doing what he appears to be doing, ALWAYS assume the other guy is out to get you.”
As it turns out, this is a pretty good rule for interacting with humans in general.
In North Carolina U-turns are legal unless prohibited by signage – and it is made clear at major intersections and elsewhere that other traffic has the right of way over vehicles essaying U-turns.
Suggestion: Verify with a LEA that you do indeed have the right of way when making a U-turn. Then a short, clear letter to the editor focused on the point that people are not yielding to cars making U-turns which have the right of way. My experience is that when a newspaper can legitimately promote traffic safety (like publishing your letter) they’re happy to do so – it’s a mark of public service that costs them little if anything.
(625 ILCS 5/11‑802) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11‑802)
Sec. 11‑802. Limitations on U turns. (a) The driver of any vehicle shall not turn such vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction unless such movement can be made in safety and without interfering with other traffic.
ARTICLE IX. RIGHT‑OF‑WAY contains no reference to yielding to vehicles performing u-turns.
Do you mean by U-turn what I thought U-turn meant, or am I confused? I thought a U-turn was driving one way along a street, and then turning hard into a U shape, and ending up going the opposite direction along the same road. When you say ‘the road i’m making a U-turn onto’ do you mean something else, or did I just misread.
FTR I’m in the UK, and AFAIK the advice here for a U-turn was basically “don’t”: it’s expected that if you want to turn in a quiet road you do a 3-point turn or reverse into an even smaller road, and in a busy road you turn off it into a quiet one.
No cite, but when I was learning to drive I was always taught that U-turns are only tolerated in certain areas, and never have right-of-way over regular traffic. The general concensus from both my parents and driving instructors was that U-turns should be avoided if possible.
U-turns are specifically not legal in Pennsylvania unless you are at designated intersections where you get a turn arrow and the sign indicates that you may make a U-turn. There are along Route 22, some exit-ramp looking things that allow you to make a modified U-turn, so you take the exit ramp, go to the light, and then turn left to go the opposite way that you were going.
It’s kind of confusing the first time you see it. You’re driving along 22 East and you see this sign ‘22 West Next Right’. Almost makes you wonder for a minute if you’re on the right road until you realize that it’s a U-turn area.
You are correct in essence – but the term “U-turn” has been extended to describe the turn you make on a divided road where, e.g., proceeding westbound, you get in the left turn lane approaching a light or stop sign, and instead of making a left turn into the northbound lane of the cross street, you make a 180-degree left turn to enter the eastbound lane of the same road you were on.
In cases where driveways exit onto one side of a divided highway, it’s the only reasonable way to do the equivalent of turning left out of the driveway. E.g.:
<b__________________________________
________________)
_____________ a>
…X
On that odd little diagram, you are at point X and want to be proceeding in direction b. To exit point X, you are obliged to go in direction a. You proceed in direction a, to the right, up to the corner, setting up for a left turn, but instead of heading north into the paragraph beginning “In cases where…” you make a complete turn so that you go leftwards, in direction b. This is technically and legally a U turn.
I gotcha. The guy is making a right turn on a red light, and you are making a u-turn on a green left turn light. You are completely right, you do have the right of way. Like somebody else said in this thread, don’t assume they know what’s going on around them, and proceed with extreme caution!
I was taught that it is proper to use directional signals to indicate your intent when making a turn. Cars typically have left- and right-hand turn signals; they do not have “U-Turn” signals. In the situation you described, the other driver presumable has indicated his intentions by flashing his/her right directional. You have two choices: using no directional signal, which would suggest that you are going straight, or using your left signal. In both cases the other driver is correct in assuming that your vehicle and theirs are on independent paths which will not cross.
In short, barring telepathy, it’s unreasonable for you to expect the other driver to yield.
At my location the rule is that under normal circumstances, unless the crossing protocol is controlled by signs or signals otherwise,()* vehicle A that would be crossing vehicle B’s path from R to L relative to B would get the ROW, and in head-on encounters the ROW order is 1. straight, 2. right-turners, 3. left-turners – this can get confusing in U-turns, however, because you change relative motion; you are first crossing his path from R to L, then you’re head-on, then L to R; so in a lot of the USA the U-turn is the EXCEPTION rather than the rule.
(*e.g., the guy facing the STOP sign, ALWAYS has to wait until the lane is clear of whatever it is the drivers on the other road are doing.)
Except Freejooky said “as soon as there was a gap in traffic - and I started to make my U-turn,” which implies he was waiting for a gap. And thus didn’t have a left-turn light.
Hopefully, Freejooky will clarify this point, but I was under the impression that he was using a dedicated lane cut through the median, where his car is stopped essentially perpendicular to the main flow of traffic, and a left-turn signal would indicate that he’s completing a U-turn. Otherwise, as you say, the other driver would have no idea what Freejooky is doing, and the entire complaint would be pretty dumb.
Well the OP is not clear but if he is facing the car that is turning right, then he almost certainly does not have the right of way. Left turners usually yield to right turners, except at 4-way stops.
In my experience, the car that is not crossing traffic always has right-of-way over vehicles that are crossing traffic to make their turn, barring traffic signals/stop signs. Thus, someone making a right turn is not crossing traffic, merely tootling around a close corner; the u-turner is crossing all kinds of lanes of traffic, and does not have right-of-way.
If I can just add a somewhat-related rant of my own here - when I’m stopped at a green light, waiting for traffic to clear so I can make my left turn, and I’m waiting for oncoming right turners to turn into the single lane that we’re both driving into, drivers behind me, QUIT HONKING YOUR DAMNED HORN AT ME! What do you want me to do - drive right into the side of the drivers with right-of-way? That’ll look good on my insurance report.