I didn’t have anything against U turns before I moved to Florida. I’m from the Midwest and it’s just something that isn’t all that common there. Here, well that’s a whole new ballgame.
It might have something to do with the landscaping. Streets in Florida are landscaped much more than in the north. And they all have medians. Beautifully landscaped medians.
Yes, they’re pretty. Especially from a tourist standpoint. And we all know what an important commodity tourism is to the state of Florida.
But from a drivers standpoint, they’re a nightmare. And unfortunately many people think that just because they can make a U turn, they should. Even when people can die because of your decision.
Last Friday night I was returning home from work on Memorial Blvd, and rolled up upon an accident. This is an everyday occurrence here. But this was a bad one.
There was twisted metal and plastic all in the east bound lane and atop the median. The only way I could tell it was a motorcycle was by the handlebars. The emergency vehicles had all arrived. There were flashing lights everywhere, yet no sirens.
There was also no sense of urgency as the EMT slowly covered what once was a man with a white sheet. Just looking at scene, you knew there was no way he could of survived.
The next day I found out what happened. Now this is all hearsay, but from what I saw, it appeared very plausible. Seems a large flatbed truck was in the left ‘U turn’ lane, which is cut in the middle of the median, behind another vehicle. He didn’t fit, and part of his truck was extended out into the left driving lane.
The man on the bike, driving in that lane, then hit the truck’s back end. He didn’t stand a chance.
The problem is, this happens constantly around here. Instead of going up a block and turning around, the truck driver sat extended out in the lane to make his U turn because he could. Was it the right decision??? Absolutely not.
Why is everybody always in such a hurry? They then make terrible decisions. And people die. And they have to deal with that for the rest of their lives. Everyone loses. All because of a stupid U turn. I hate stupid U turns. k
