2011 Connecticut Code
Title 14 Motor Vehicles. Use of the Highway By Vehicles. Gasoline
Chapter 248 Vehicle Highway Use
Sec. 14-242. Turns restricted. Signals to be given before turning or stopping. U-turns. Left turns. Right turns when passing bicyclist.

      Sec. 14-242. Turns restricted. Signals to be given before turning or stopping. U-turns. Left turns. Right turns when passing bicyclist. (a) No person shall turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in a proper position on the highway as required by section 14-241, or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway or otherwise turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a highway unless such movement can be made with reasonable safety. No person shall so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided in section 14-244.

      (b) A signal of intention to turn right or left shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.

      (c) No person shall stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided in section 14-244 to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is opportunity to give such signal.

      (d) No person shall turn a vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction upon any curve, or upon the approach to, or near the crest of, a grade, where such vehicle cannot be seen by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction within five hundred feet, or at any location where signs prohibiting U-turns are posted by any traffic authority.

      (e) The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or within the area formed by the extension of the lateral lines of the private alley, road or driveway across the full width of the public highway with which it intersects, or so close to such intersection of public highways or to the area formed by the extension of the lateral lines of said private alley, road or driveway across the full width of the public highway as to constitute an immediate hazard.

      (f) No person operating a vehicle who overtakes and passes a person riding a bicycle and proceeding in the same direction shall make a right turn at any intersection or into any private road or driveway unless the turn can be made with reasonable safety and will not impede the travel of the person riding the bicycle.

      (g) Violation of any of the provisions of this section shall be an infraction.

      (1955, S. 1394d; 1963, P.A. 258; 1971, P.A. 66, S. 1; P.A. 75-577, S. 86, 126; P.A. 00-70.)

      History: 1963 act removed qualification in Subsec. (a) that turn without signal should not be made "if any other traffic may be affected by such movement"; 1971 act added Subsec. (e); P.A. 75-577 added Subsec. (f); P.A. 00-70 added new Subsec. (f) to prohibit a person making a right turn in front of a bicyclist unless the turn can be made with reasonable safety and will not impede the travel of the bicyclist and redesignated former Subsec. (f) as Subsec. (g).

      See Sec. 14-111g re operator's retraining program.

      See Sec. 14-295 re assessment of double or treble damages.

      Failure to signal is negligence as a matter of law but such negligence is a question of fact in determining proximate causation. 142 C. 142; 147 C. 187. Former statute cited. 145 C. 187. Violation is negligence per se but charge held adequate which stated that statute required a certain course of action. 146 C. 10. Where, in special defense of contributory negligence, defendants alleged failure to use care of reasonably prudent person, to keep proper lookout and to operate automobile in such manner as to prevent collision, reference by court in its charge to statute was proper. 149 C. 386. Cited. 163 C. 146. This statute places a duty of reasonable safety on a driver who wishes to turn left into a private alleyway. 165 C. 422. Whether defendant violated this section and such violation was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's damage are questions for the jury. 167 C. 533. Cited. 206 C. 608.

      Cited 4 CA 451. Cited. 22 CA 142. Cited. 36 CA 710. Cited. 43 CA 636.

      Cited. 5 Conn. Cir. Ct. 694.

      Subsec. (a):

      Cited. 149 C. 371. Cited. 150 C. 355. No exception to signal requirement exists merely because there is no risk of collision in making turn. 154 C. 620. Cited. 155 C. 409. Cited. 166 C. 240. Plaintiff stopped his vehicle at curb and then turned left into driveway without signalling. This was violation of this subsection not subsection (b). 168 C. 64.

      Cited. 43 CA 636.

      Subsec. (b):

      Cited. 149 C. 371. Cited. 150 C. 355. See 154 C. 620 above. Cited. 155 C. 409. See 168 C. 64 above.

      Cited. 30 CA 742.

      Subsec. (e):

      Cited. 179 C. 388. Cited. 234 C. 660.

      Cited. 2 CA 164. Cited. 17 CA 471. Cited. 22 CA 142.