The penalties for a U-turn ticket: $238 traffic fine, one point on your DMV driving record which leads to increased insurance premiums, costing roughly $1,200 over the course of 3-5 years.

No traffic ticket is worth it because as soon as you pay, you are pleading guilty! Traffic tickets affect your time, your money, and your driving record. We recommend fighting each and every ticket you receive.

There are many variables at play when you receive a ticket.

California ticket attorneys can argue that the officer did not follow procedure when witnessing or citing the U-turn violation, or that the areas were in fact not a business district or a residential districting, depending on which classification applies. Ticket lawyers can further argue that road signs were not clearly marked or visible.

At CA Traffic Tickets, our traffic ticket attorneys use a 2-step system to fight most traffic infractions, which doubles your chances at winning with an 80%+ success rate.*

Have you received a U Turn ticket for making an illegal U Turn? CA Traffic Tickets can win your U Turn ticket with an 80% success rate of $ back!*.

U-Turn at Controlled Intersection

This is the most common type of U-Turn ticket issued in California. California law states that drivers can make a U-turn at any intersection as long as there is no sign strictly prohibiting U-turns and only from the far left-hand lane.

22100.5: No driver shall make a U-turn at an intersection controlled by official traffic signals except as provided in Section 21451, and then only from the far left-hand lane that is lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of travel from which the turn is commenced. No driver shall make a U-turn at an intersection controlled by official traffic control devices except from the far left-hand lane that is lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of travel from which the turn is commenced.

U-Turn in Business District

A business district is defined as portion of road no less than 300 feet, of which 50% or more of the properties on that road are businesses.

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.

U-Turn in Residence District

Drivers may not make a U-turn if another vehicle is approaching within 200 feet in either direction. Driving onto a driveway and reversing then driving again constitutes a 3-point turn and is not governed by the same laws as U-turn laws in California.

22103: No person in a residence district shall make a U-turn when any other vehicle is approaching from either direction within 200 feet, except at an intersection when the approaching vehicle is controlled by an official traffic control device.

Unobstructed View Necessary for U-Turn

22105: No person shall make a U-turn upon any highway where the driver of such vehicle does not have an unobstructed view for 200 feet in both directions along the highway and of any traffic thereon.