Maybe Nobody Goes First

Q: If I’m making a right turn on a red light at an intersection and another person is making a U-turn to get into the same lane that I’m turning into, which one of us has the right-of-way?

A: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that depends. How’s that for non-committal? But I have a good reason, so let’s dig into the laws about both right turns and U-turns to figure out who gets to turn first. Just in case the geometry of the original question isn’t clear, here’s a graphic of an intersection to help explain what’s going on.

At first glance of the law, you could get the impression that U-turns are generally legal. I’ll argue that the opposite is true. U-turns aren’t specifically prohibited at intersections except when there’s a sign telling you they’re not allowed, but that doesn’t mean you can make a U-turn whenever you’d like. Point one of the law on U-turns starts with, “The driver of any vehicle shall not turn such vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction . . .” That indicates to me that the default for U-turns is, “Don’t do it.” However, the next word in the law is, “unless,” indicating that there is at least some scenario where U-turns are allowed. Here’s the rest of point one: “. . . unless such movement can be made in safety and without interfering with other traffic.”

Based on the part about interfering with other traffic, it’d be reasonable to conclude that it would be illegal to make a U-turn that conflicts with another driver making a right turn, because the U-turn would interfere with traffic. But before we settle on that conclusion, let’s see what the law says about right turns.

After coming to a complete stop, the law allows a driver to take a right turn on a red light (unless a posted sign prohibits the movement.) Like the U-turn law, there are some limits on when a driver can make this right turn. In this case the law requires drivers intent on making a right turn to “remain stopped to allow other vehicles lawfully within or approaching the intersection control area to complete their movements.”

While not specifically related to the original question, drivers intending to make right turns “shall also remain stopped for pedestrians . . . lawfully within the intersection.” I point this out because when the “right turn on red” became the norm, pedestrian and cyclist involved crashes increased 60 and 100 percent, respectively. The right on red might speed up your commute, but they’re not good for vulnerable road users (or drivers – those crashes went up 23 percent.)

Here’s where we get to the “depends” part of the answer. If the person making a U-turn has already initiated the turn before the right-turner starts their turn, the right-turner should yield to the U-turner. If the right-turner starts making the turn before the U-turner enters the intersection, I’d expect the U-turner to yield. But what about the “approaching the intersection” part of the law? If you intend to make a right turn, how can you know if the car approaching from the right with a left turn signal on is intending to make a left turn or a U-turn? You can’t. However, the person who wants to make a U-turn can clearly see the intention of a driver who wants to make a right turn due to the blinking turn signal. (We’re all using our turn signals, right?)

If I were to make some assumptions about the law (a dangerous thing to do) I’d conclude that the person making the U-turn has a greater responsibility to yield because the movement is more difficult to predict. But a judge ruling on your collision might see it differently. This is a situation where the law recognizes some increased risk of both driving actions and thus requires drivers to yield the right-of-way to other vehicles. As a best practice, if the opportunity to make a U-turn or a right turn is not glaringly obvious, it’s probably good to wait.