One of the stranger Oregon traffic laws is the Illegal U-Turn Ticket. In other places, you can do U-turns willy-nilly. Take 
Washington, for example: “The driver of any vehicle shall not turn such vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction unless such movement can be made in safety and without interfering with other traffic.” U-turns allowed unless they’re unsafe or interfere with other traffic.
Not so under Oregon’s U-turn law. Many intersections have No U-turn signs… and others don’t. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can turn at all of those unsigned intersections.
You Can Do U-Turns in Oregon – But Do It Right to Avoid an Illegal U-Turn Ticket.
You’ll get an illegal u-turn ticket if you do a u-turn at any intersection that has a traffic light – unless a sign says you can.
You’ll get an illegal u-turn ticket if you do a u-turn between intersections in a city.
You’ll get an illegal u-turn ticket if you do a u-turn any place where your vehicle can’t be seen for 500 feet in each direction in a city (that’s generally 2.5 city blocks in Portland or almost the length of 2 football fields) or 1000 feet (over 3 football fields) in each direction outside a city.
Where Can You Do a U-turn and Not Get an Illegal U-turn Ticket?
In a city:
- At an intersection with a traffic light and a u-turn allowed sign.
- At an intersection without a traffic light if there is 500 feet of visibility in front and behind your vehicle.
Outside of a city:
- At an intersection with a traffic light and a u-turn allowed sign.
- Anywhere else where there is 1000 feet of visibility in front and behind your vehicle.
What Should You do if You Get an Illegal U-turn Ticket?
Make a note of where you are, the type of signs the intersection has, where the officer was when he saw the alleged u-turn and how much visibility there was in each direction.
Your best bet for keeping it off your driving record is working with an experienced traffic ticket attorney, like me. Contact me for a confidential consultation.