I was driving on a stretch of Illinois double-lane highway for about 30 minutes the other day and counted about six staggered turn-around roads through the middle divider that had the “No U-Turn” sign posted.
Obviously, police cars and IDOT make good use of these cut-through roads to quickly go back and forth on either side, but I saw one regular passenger car ahead of me do a quick turn-around on one, presumably because it was the quickest, easiest way to get going the other way.
Why are safely-executed u-turns prohibited on these cut-throughs, and is there a penalty for doing so – like for the car in front of me if caught by the police?
You said “safely executed”, which is a significant assumption. On and off ramps are long for a reason. If you ever have cause to walk one, it will really surprise you how long they really are. (Pasadena freeway excepted!)
Turning into and out traffic at highway speeds is outside normal driver’s experience, and the oncoming and following traffic isn’t expecting it. It requires a much larger “hole” than most drivers would imagine: At 60 mph a vehicle will chew up a hundred yards in just over three seconds. To safely accelerate a modestly powered car into 70mph traffic from a stop requires around a quarter mile opening.
Police cars will normally use their cherries when using them to alert other drivers to the hazard.
These are placed at various intervals along interstate highways for the use of police and other emergency vehicles to enable them to quickly get to an accident or pursuit on the other side of the freeway.
It is generally illegal for private motorists to use them for several reasons. First, the cut-through paths are not well maintained and are not in nearly as good a condition as the freeway, and sometimes there are severe dips and bumps involved.
Also, when you get to the other side of the freeway, it is not always a simple matter to merge from a dead stop at the side of the road into the left lane with traffic moving by at 60-80 mph.
Another reason is that extensive use by motorists would prevent the use for which they were intended in an emergency situation.
There is a highway like that near me that does have similar cut outs for people turning left or making u-turns. There are no turn lanes, just small cut outs big enough for a car or two. It probably made sense in 1950, but these days that highway is bumper to bumper at 60 mph all day long and there are a lot of transfer trucks.
You have to watch the people in front of you very closely and get ready to brake hard if you see the first hint of a tail light coming on. And god forbid two people want to turn. One will end up with their ass sticking out and blocking a whole lane of traffic and cars will be diving for the shoulders and taking evasive action as an instant half-mile long backup occurs. It is insanely dangerous.
If anyone’s interested, 60 mph is equivalent to 88 feet per second. 70 mph is equivalent to 102.67 feet per second. That’s not exactly standing still! :eek:
You presented four reasons, two of which, unquoted above, seem excellent. Comments on these two:
1, Very true in some states. (Virginia, for example, has a couple of them that almost call for four-wheel drive or Bajaing.) Others pave, maintain, and plow them to what appears visually to be highway standard.
I’d be inclined to state this, not wth “would” as a definite conditional result, but with “might (well)” as a likelihood of extensive use.
Probably a bit finicky points, but this is the Dope; it’s par for hhe course here.
Googling “unauthorized u-turn fine,” I’m seeing things on the web like “disregarding official traffic control device: $185.” It’s going to vary state by state, but I can just about guarantee that if a cop happens to see you making a U-turn in a location where a sign expressly forbids it, you’re going to be paying a fine, and you may also end up with points on your license.
Next time you see a cop and have an opportunity for face-to-face conversation, ask him; you’ll get the Straightest Dope possible.
Ah, you say that as if the typical motorist has ever merged into highway traffic by coming up to highway speed! Around here (uh…effectively the US East Coast) the practice is to enter the highway at whatever speed doesn’t interfere with your texting or make the dashboard DVD player skip, and let the highway traffic brake if it can while you do so. That technique works fine most of the time, and could easily be employed on highway cut-throughs without modification.
It’s not designed for traffic to be merging into high speed traffic and there are supposed to be limited places where traffic may enter onto the highway to maintain the safety of high speed roadways. Minimizing danger points on high speed roads is also the reason they put up a fence along interstates. Letting people get away with U turns means everybody will soon be using the area for a left turn which it’s not where they want you do be turning. Who wouldn’t prefer to turn around 5 - 15 miles sooner when they miss an exit or go the wrong way?
I have actually seen two separate accidents that involved people trying to do illegal u-turns on expressways. The problems occured on the right side of the highway (the decelerating side). The people making the turn did a lousy job of getting off the road, and the people behind them were not expecting someone to almost come to a stop in the fast lane. So, it’s not just a matter of accelerating and merging properly, but also slowing and turning from the fast lane.
Don’t forget the Zs!
On many roads (like the Jersey Turnpike) they indicate an upcoming U-turn Cut Through with a sign showing what looks like a “C” and a backward “C” with the rounded parts facing each other and a number – say, 1000, indicating that such a U-turn is 1000 feet ahead.
You’ll also see signs that say **Z ** and underneath, “1000”. These indicate a similar cut-through where you can go from one road going in one direction to another road separated by a railing, but going in the same direction. The Jersey Turnpike has such divided highways, for instance, for Car Only vs. Truck roads.
It’s just as illegal to go through a “Z” as through a “U-Turn”, and for the same reasons – you have to drastically slow down, essentially pass through at right angles to the railing, then turn and speed up. It’s asking for trouble from a passenger car not experienced at it and unequipped with flashing lights.
There is one other possible reason, which is rather unusual (I can only cite one instance). There is a freeway from the Capital Beltway to Dulles Airport that is restricted for airport access only. Once you get on towards the airport, the only place you can get off is the airport. However, there are exits in the direction of leaving the airport. You can get on towards the airport and take the next U-turn past your desired exit to get back off, rather than going all the way to the airport then turning around (which is illegal anyway). So in that case the U-turns are restricted to prevent unauthorized use of the road, in addition to the reasons given earlier.
The airport road runs parallel to a toll road, but using the airport road (illegally) avoids rush-hour congestion and tolls. I could start a-whole-nother thread about people who stop at the airport gas station for coffee to claim they have business on airport property to evade the road restriction…
Just out of curiosity, I wonder if there are still any roads in the U.S. in which you are required to pull onto the right shoulder in order to make a left turn.
I’ve only come across this kind of intersection in Melbourne, Australia, where at some intersections with tram lines you turn right from left-hand lane, after waiting for the traffic lights to turn red in the direction you are coming from and green in the direction you are going towards.
:eek: I used to live at the apartment complex on the corner of Palatine Road and Windsor Drive in Wheeling! Man, that was a confusing intersection if you’d never been there before.
