I can see that if we’re talking about a loaded cement truck, but a 3500 pound car? I doubt that will cause any problem at all.
I’d never heard the term, either, until I started reading the Lee Child books. His character Reacher is always doing K-turns.
Me too, but the turnarouders can’t really see that the street has a loop at the end, especially at night.
It bugs me in a very, very small way–just enough that I try not to do it myself. I’ll always favor a business turnaround or a long driveway in which my headlights/stealthy K turn won’t interrupt supper or the latest viewing of Seinfeld reruns.
As I learned it: A VT turnaround is when you back into the driveway, a K-Turn is when you pull in head first and than back back out.
I was told that K-turns are illegal in Vermont, hence the “Vermont turnaround”. No idea if that’s true or not.
I was taught not to do it (you lose points on your drivers test for doing it) so I mostly don’t. Most streets you can do a 3 point turn without using a driveway anyway. Sometimes I use a little bit of driveway on a U-turn. I’m confused what people mean about ‘pulling in’ to a driveway. That seems unnecessary, but just using the first foot or two is OK.
Doesn’t piss me off. What did was when people would use my driveway to cut over from a main street to a cul-de-sac.
I have a friend who has their newspaper delivered in the morning. It always lands in the driveway. People who U-turn in the driveway invariably run over the newspaper and rip it up. Other people even drive off the edge of the driveway and rip up the landscaping.
And a lot of people U-turn there because it is near a school, but out of sight of the school. Parents who don’t want to use the school’s official pickup/dropoff point use this street instead. (The official place has usually has a long, slow line.)
My late grandfather hated this. He eventually painted some sawhorses fluorescent yellow and glued on some red reflectors and used them to barricade the end of the driveway.
But I think it’s a pretty frequent thing there, as it’s on a street that appears to be a dead end if you don’t go all the way and it’s one of the only houses on that street that has a driveway (nearly all of the others have garages that open onto an alley in the back).
In Gary’s defense since I’m the one he replied to ------- I have seen a funky paving-stone driveway or two and one I would swear was basically plywood, and there is always the odd rural dirt drive here and there, so what he says isn’t totally nuts. But those are ones I would pass by looking for something more normal/substantial to use.
I just wrote it off as a case of His Driveway May Vary. 
I do it all the time, I enjoy doing it, I feel like I’m getting away with something, it’s like some kind of driving life-hack!
Whenever I pull into someone’s driveway for a quick turnaround,I always say"Don’t make coffee,I’m not staying".
Ours is the last property on a private road. Maybe once a year someone is hopelessly lost and winds up at our house. Getting turned around can be difficult.
Now that’s an awkward situation. Our dogs are usually loose outside and surround the car, barking at the occupants. I call off the hounds and offer help to the driver, but usually if you end up at our place you are very, very lost.
Wow!
Like, how old ARE you people exactly?
Sorry, I’m just not seeing it as in any way complaint worthy. Or even mildly miff worthy, to be honest.
I just can’t imagine getting the slightest bit put out by such an insignificant thing. What if that driver was having some sort of quasi emergency? Maybe they are not from around here and need to turn back before they get further lost? Maybe they have a screaming, freaking out autistic child in the back seat. Maybe they are rushing to see their dying relative at emerg somewhere? Maybe a thousand things.
But mostly, of its what you need to do, for whatever reason, go ahead, I don’t mind.
It seems to be, quite literally, the least I could do! And if it helps you out, in any possible way, I’m glad to have you use my drive. Winter, spring, summer, fall, day, or middle of the night, all just fine by me!
Results of survey may be skewed by size of 12-16 year old drive-owning demographic.
It never occurred to me as something people would object to, but I guess people can object to anything. I wouldn’t care if somebody did it in my driveway, but I live on the corner of a T intersection so there wouldn’t be any need.
I don’t drive on the lawn or knock down the mailbox or anything. Wear and tear on the driveway strikes me as kind of a nitpick - “fair use” and all that. If the homeowner comes out of the house waving a shotgun, I just make the turn faster.
Regards,
Shodan
One evening I pulled into a driveway to check a map; I thought I might have missed my turn (I hadn’t). As always, I turned off my headlights to avoid flashing the house, but left my running lights on. Residential neighborhood, just off a major street, but all residential for a mile or so, or I’d have used a gas station or mart.
A car pulls up behind me with its brights on and the driver gets out and approaches, so I get out to see what the deal is.
Him: What are you doing in my driveway?
Me: Checking a map, thought I’d missed my turn.
Him: No you’re not; you’re casing my house!
Me: No, I’m a musician on my way to rehearsal. My minivan is full of keyboards. Want to see them? Want to see the open map?
Him: No you’re not, you’re casing my house! Why are your lights off?
Me (pointing): My lights aren’t off, they’re just turned down so I don’t shine in someone’s house. I try to be polite.
Him: that’s a lie, you’re casing my house!
I notice the woman in his passenger seat and perhaps it’s my imagination but she looks like she’s embarrassed, and an older couple in his back seat, so I tone down what my reply.
Me (now angy rather than conciliatory): Don’t tell me what I’m doing. If you feel you need to call the police, then call them and I’ll wait. Otherwise, I’m leaving.
(I guess I didn’t have to tell him that if he didn’t move his car, he had a nice flat open lawn.)
We glared at each other for a bit and then he backed down and moved his car and I drove off. Crisis averted.
Lessons learned on my part.
In general, though, I try to avoid using someone’s driveway to turn around, especially in places where it would be a nuisance like near a school as mentioned above. When there’s no good alternative, I try to be conscientious.
I think a lot of disagreement here might be because we all have different visions of what a driveway is.
If you decided to pull into this driveway:
Typical Mesa AZ driveway (not mine)
I think most people would think you were rude, or up to something criminal. If you’re reading a map in one of these driveways, I’d hope even Shodan would think this was objectionable. Why not park in the street?
On the other hand, this driveway:
I don’t think anyone would notice. (You can see the house waaaay back in there.)
Could anybody who says they don’t mind people in their driveway, please post a link to what you consider to be a typical one, similar to yours?
No, I don’t think they would—not if you pulled in only to immediately back out again.
Pull all the way in, or only up to the sidewalk? I agree with the second, not the first. (Though we do routinely get tire marks up by the garage, so someone doesn’t think it’s a problem.)
I guess I’m a GOML type, but the blocks are small enough that you can just flip a u-ey at the next intersection, or go around the block. Doing a turnaround in a driveway here just seems, I dunno, entitled.
As a related thought, in the threads complaining about parking in front of someone’s house, this is the type of neighborhood I imagine. You can see the streets are never full, so routinely parking in front of someone else’s house seems rude. Not illegal, not a car-keyable offense, just rude.
I don’t object and my driveway is like the Arizona one linked to. Drive in past the sidewalk, spend ten minutes looking at your map, unless I want to park there, right now, I’m cool!
(But, then, I’m Canadian, if that matters, which it ought not!)