Dec. 26, 2025, 12:02 pm ET
There comes a time in every driver’s life when they need to quickly turn around on the road.
You could just find a nice parking lot or take a loop around the block, but who has time for that these days?
The fastest way to get going the right direction is to do a U-turn. But where can you do them in Ohio? Are they even legal?
Here’s what you need to know.
What Ohio law has to say about U-turns
U-turns are legal in Ohio, but there are restrictions. You can’t do them on a curve in the road or on a hill where other cars from both directions can’t see you from at least 500 feet away. Breaking these rules is a minor misdemeanor, punishable with a fine up to $150 or up to 30 hours of community service.
Ohio drivers are also forbidden from doing U-turns where there are signs prohibiting them, where the design of the road can’t accommodate them or where any other traffic control device (i.e. lane markings, turn restrictions) forbid them.
When you’re doing a U-turn, you also have to yield to pedestrians and cars moving in both directions.
Ohio Turnpike drivers are banned from doing U-turns completely unless a police officer or the Ohio Turnpike Commission approves it.
Can emergency vehicles do U-turns?
Emergency vehicle drivers responding to an emergency call can pull a U-turn if the vehicle has at least one rotating, oscillating or flashing light visible from 500 feet away during normal atmospheric conditions, the driver uses an audible signal and they do it with “due regard for the safety of all persons and property upon the highway,” according to the Ohio Revised Code.
The city of Columbus is currently pursuing a ban to non-emergency U-turns by fire apparatus two years after a Columbus firefighter caused a deadly crash on Interstate 270.
Probationary firefighter Tyler Conners, then 25 years old, was attempting to make a U-turn using a turnaround for emergency vehicles on I-270 in Gahanna when a pickup truck driven by 63-year-old motorist Timothy Wiggins collided with the back of the engine, killing Wiggins and injuring his fiancé, Patricia Hesson.
Conners pleaded no contest to charges of vehicular manslaughter in 2024 and was sentenced to two years of probation. He did not receive any discipline at work, a fact that led the Columbus Department of Public Safety to attempt to discipline Fire Chief Jeffrey Happ in December 2025.
Dispatch reporter Jordan Laird contributed to this report.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, at @NathanRHart on X and at nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
