are U TURNS illegal

are u turns illegal in new york state

No Mikey,

U-Turns are normally allowed except where prohibited by sign. I don’t know where the U-Turn = illegal urban legend thing got started but it is not true most of the time.

That is so funny, I think it got started in my home state of South Carolina - There aren’t any signs, but if you make one and a cop is around, you see blue lights!!!

In Wisconsin, they are only allowed at uncontrolled intersections (that is, no lights, no stop signs etc…) or at breaks in the median unless there is a no u turn sign. It felt really strange when I was in Florida for a week and we could make u turns at stop lights.

No such thing as an unmarked illegal U-Turn in Texas (i.e., if there’s not a sign prohibiting it, you can do it)…

Hairpin turns make driving fun, so of course they are illegal!

But seriously, this is not one of those ‘always on’ deals. The hairpin is perfectly legal in most cases, unless it is posted otherwise, or if you are on a divided highway and NOT at an intersection. I thought for a long time the same thing, but then I saw a cop do it one day, so I pulled him over and asked him “wasn’t that an illegal U-turn back there” and he said of course not. So now I make a U-turn on that corner all the time, but I wouldn’t risk it at some other ones.

I suspect this is different from state to state.

How about:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/

New York’s website for their Dept of Motor Vehicles.

IIRC in NYC they are illegal

I looked it up about a year ago. For NYC, U-turns (at intersections) are legal, except in business districts. IIRC, U-turns in the middle of the block are illegal everywhere.

PC

P.S.- BTW, U turns have to be made with the light, from the left lane. Those NYU-turns where the car goes to the right lane and waits for it to turn red are illegal for many reasons. (Not least for running a red and making a left turn from the right lane.)

From the New York State Driver’s Manual