No U-Turn

I live on Lucky Lane here in Citrus Heights, CA, a dead-end street which empties into San Juan Avenue just to the south of the Sperry Drive stoplights. I frequently want to go south on San Juan Avenue but a cement median prevents me from taking a left-turn. So what I do is go north immediately into the left-turn lane at the Sperry Drive stoplight, do a U-turn under a protected green turn signal, and then proceed south on San Juan. To complicate things, some time ago the City of Citrus Heights posted a sign reading "No U-Turn" on the south-bound side of the stoplight. It makes sense because most vehicles cannot make the narrow U-turn. I choose to risk getting caught though because the alternative is to take a left, do a U-turn farther up the street into a liquor-convenience store parking lot or some other weird U-turn on Sperry Drive.

So the intersection situation I live with every day is irritating. Apparently my actions irritate someone else though, because on Saturday morning as I went to the American River Parkway to run, a man disapprovingly said to me through my open window as he went by, "No U-Turn." I sensed he was concerned with safety on the road but I had no way to communicate in return.

So thank you for sharing your concern, anonymous, older man in the big, shiny, red car. You have been heard. Perhaps you'll read this blog post someday and we may continue our conversation.