It happens once a week.
I’m at a light getting ready to turn left. I’m not the first car in line. Light turns green, I ease up and - BAM! the person in front of me stops short in the intersection so they can make a u-turn. I don’t actually hit them, but I usually come damn close.
One of the big problems is that most of the time the person trying to make a u-turn accelerates quicker than normal to get ahead of you so they can whip it around and make the turn. Most drivers take the bait and follow out matching the speed of the person making the u-turn setting up the perfect storm for the rear-ender.
I admit a u-turn signal on a car sounds dorky at first but a quick Google search on topic revealed a bunch of patents for such a thing. Why hasn’t it been implemented? Just because it would probably look stupid?
It might not be so bad if there was some kind of cool u-turn hand signal we could all agree on. Kind of like the unwritten hand signal to get truckers to blow their horn. Every 3 year old kid knows that one.
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not a bad idea, but the problem is that those who make u-turns in the ridiculous manner described probably would not have the sense to use it.
ah, if only if only cool things were recognized as cool by the uncool.
I’ve always wondered this! Many people honk when you are trying to make a safe legal u-turn. While you’ve been waiting to do your u-turn, 3 people may have been able to make a quick left turn in that time. If people knew why you didn’t turn left, we might have less cranky drivers.
M on November 3rd, 2007 at 1:07 pm | Link
If only people did not suck at driving and learn to whip the wheel left, gun it, counter-steer, ease off the gas, recover the swerve. (Not recommended for vans/trucks/SUVs).
u-turn king on November 24th, 2008 at 5:08 pm | Link