U-turn In Business District

Hey Guys,

A little question about U-turns in a Biz district. First the
background:
Tonight I was in Saratoga (on Big Basin Rd) and made a U-turn at an
intersection.
I mis judged the turn so had to do a 3-pointer. A cop was down the road
and saw
this. He pulled me over; told me I did two things wrong but (no worries)
he wouldn't write a ticket:

1) It is illegal to make a U-turn in a business district (I specifically
asked
"Even at an intersection?" and He said "Yes")
2) It is illegal to do a U-turn if your turning radius won't let you
complete
the turn (no 3-pointers)

I went to www.leginfo.ca.gov and the only section of Vehicle Code which
had both U-turn and
business district was this one:

22102. No person in a *business* district shall make a *U*-*turn*, except
at an intersection, or on a divided highway where an opening has
been provided in accordance with Section 21651. This turning
movement shall be made as close as practicable to the extreme
left-hand edge of the lanes moving in the driver's direction of
travel immediately prior to the initiation of the turning movement,
when more than one lane in the direction of travel is present.


I could not find anything about the 3-pointer.

SO what say ye, legal eagles? Me thinks the cop wanted to check if I'd
been drinking
or something. He got a bit huffy when I asked for clarification. Plus,
I'd never heard
either of those before (and cannot find anything in the vehicle code).

 

Gongggggg!

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc665_5.htm

U-turn
665.5. A "U-turn" is the turning of a vehicle upon a highway so as to
proceed in the opposite direction whether accomplished by one
continuous movement or not.

You can search the CVC website if you want to play "courtroom" some
more, and you'll probably discover that the 3-point u-turn does become
illegal if it impedes
oncoming traffic, but, in that case, the u-turn completed in one
continuous movement would also be illegal.

 

Could be a local (city) law.

Mack

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Yah. I suspect the fact that I had to do a 3-pointer made him think I
was not completely sober...
but still it is nice to understand what is legal and what is not ... and
having an authority muddy
the waters seems very, very wrong.

If he had stopped me and said something akin to "I noticed you misjudged
that U-turn there and
I was concerned that you were having difficulty driving. " He could
have blamed it on a phantom
mechanical problem if he wanted to check up on me without telling me
tales about what is legal
and illegal. He probably didn't think it mattered much - but if I am
ever on a jury and I am asked
if I think police are more or less honest than the average person this
event will come to mind (along
with some other times than I am confident an officer lied to me ... to
get the truth of course).