This might be such a problem that St. Petersburg’s placed a sign prohibiting U-Turns in this area, not to mention the double solid yellow lines, too.
St. Petersburg commuter and Redditor /u/Devil_Lettuce shared some truly headshaking dashcam footage to the /r/Dashcam subreddit showing an idiot try to be slick in avoiding a stop light by pulling an illegal maneuver only to get t-boned by a truck, hard, with the right of way.
Check out their dashcam video below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
[RedTiger F7N] [FL] [OC] Reckless SUV pulls poorly executed illegal maneuver to avoid waiting at a stop light for a few seconds
byu/devil_lettuce inDashcam
The incident happened at the intersection of an I-275 off-ramp and 31st St. S (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam footage shows, OP is exiting off I-275 when a driver in a white Hyundai SUV comes barreling behind him in a rush.
The Hyundai slots in front of OP to turn left at the stoplight, but instead of waiting, they decide to try a “slick” maneuver by turning left and immediately busting a U-turn.
While there isn’t a law that prohibits said maneuver, you do have to follow all applicable rules of the road, particularly making sure it’s legal to pull off a U-turn at that specific spot.
In this case, not only are there double yellow lines prohibiting a U-turn, but there’s a sign, clear as day, too.
The worst-case scenario happens, and a driver in a black Ram 1500 with the right of way t-bones the Hyundai.
OP can be seen coming back the other way, at which time, emergency services have arrived to assist the involved parties.
“I feel horrible for the black truck driver, what a shi**y thing to happen. Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone was seriously injured,” OP clarified in a comment in response to someone asking if he stopped to help and provide footage to police.
“For some reason, at the end I thought you were going back and doing the maneuver to show you could pull it off,” /u/BasedCourier thought.
“Floridiots are gonna Floridiot,” /u/Bart_Yellowbeard aptly put it.
As is often the case, time-saving maneuvers done with added risk never amount to saving time at all, and in a lot of cases, such as this, cause an accident.
In Florida, the fine for an illegal U-turn is up to a maximum $500 with a possible 3-4 points on your record depending on the nature of the infraction.
