3 kids die when car attempts a U-turn on I-80

That's just the people they catch doing it.

Hopefully his log book was in order and some layer can't prove he should be someplace else.

 

My brother is 61. He took driver's ed when he was 15 years old, as did my sister and I. We all grew up in a small town in Iowa, and I'll bet this guy did too. In fact, back in the 70s it was much more common for driver's ed to be taught by a full-time teacher in high school than it is now. Plus he presumably has about 46 years of driving experience. He should have known better.

And no, I have never turned around on an interstate. I'm not perfect, I don't claim I never do stupid things, but for whatever reason that message got through to me loud and clear and I've never even contemplated using the state patrol / ambulance turn around on the interstate. And there are exits not that far from where this happened -- it's not like he was on some stretch of I-80 in Wyoming where the next exit is 20 miles down the road.

 

People, as a rule, are st00pid and impatient. How many fidiots every day do you see making U-turns in the median? How many mothers texting with both hands with their kids in the car? How often are you cut off in town just so the 'tard cutting you off can get into a fast food joint or a star schmucks? It's sad that the kids had to bear the brunt of this fool's actions. I hope he dreams about it 24/7 and it prevents him from ever driving a car again. The #######es that do these dumb moves are never the ones to get hurt from them. Like the Denver incident, innocent people paid the price for someone else not thinking. Jail isn't "too good" or "too bad" for him, but being allowed in general population in jail would certainly be too good for him. Solitary confinement, left alone with nothing but his own thoughts for about 9mos would be an apropos sentence, I think.

 

No because most sensible people wouldnt be so lazy as to make a u turn instead of going to the next exit. Theres no reason to do otherwise.

 

I will admit I have made illegal u turns on the interstate a time or 2... Once in my POV... Missed my exit in the middle of nowhere... And I wasnt about to go 60 miles to the next exit. There was zero traffic, only me for several miles.

And then once in a CMV in an emergency situation... A very bad storm was dead ahead of me that I had no prior knowledge of. I could literally see trucks a mile or so infront of me begin to be blown over. My options were to either abandon my truck on the shoulder or flip a u-turn and hammer down back the way I had come... I chose the latter and made it to an over pass to park under until the storm subsided some 30 mins later.

 

Well I have turned around on the interstate hundreds of times, both in a wrecker and a service truck. I don't recall, but may have in my personal vehicle too.

 

Those 2 are to be expected. I too have done it once. On I15 sb in Utah. I was low on fuel, and didn't see the truckstop I was looking for. I passed the exit, and the highway went uphill, and the truck sputtered and stalled. I took the uturn, as it was clear and coasted downhill, and made it 50 feet from the pump.

As I have not driven a service truck or wrecker, I have had no reason to ever do that again.

 

Well???
Did you borrow a gas can or get a tow to the pumps or did you just crank the starter with it in gear?

 

I borrowed a 5 gallon can from the truckstop, and as this was nearly 20 years ago, no damage done to the fuel pump.

 

The only times I have ever pulled a u-turn on the interstate, I was driving a wrecker responding to the police calling me out...in other words, I was one of those "authorized vehicles" mentioned on the signs. In my personal vehicles, a typical CMV, or even in a wrecker responding to a private (non-police) call, I have always and without exception driven to the next exit to turn around.