Opinion ID: 3035323
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: U-Turn on Hoover

Text: After parking his car on Hoover, Willis got out, “sprinted” (Officer Boehmer’s word) across the street to a nearby apartment, and banged on the door. He was admitted to the apartment and stayed for a short time. He then came out of the apartment, got into his car, and made a U-turn on Hoover. He crossed Third Street and stopped the car at the curb on Hoover in front of what we now know was his own apartment. Officer Boehmer testified that Willis’s U-turn on Hoover was illegal, but he cited no provision of any applicable traffic law. Nevada’s traffic laws provide that “[a] U-turn may be made on any road where the turn can be made with safety, except as prohibited by this section and by the provisions of N.R.S. 484.309 [driving on a divided highway] and 484.339 16570 UNITED STATES v. WILLIS [turning on a curve or crest/grade].” Nev. Rev. Stat. 484.337(1) (2002). U-turns may not be performed at stoplights that have signs prohibiting these turns. Id. at 484.337(2). Nor may they be performed in a business district unless at an intersection. Id. at 484.337(3). Las Vegas’s municipal traffic code provides, “The driver of any vehicle shall not turn such vehicle so as to proceed in the opposite direction upon any street in a business district and shall not upon any other street so turn a vehicle unless such movement can be made in safety and without interfering with other traffic.” Las Vegas Mun. Code 11.12.050 (2005). Nowhere in his testimony did Officer Boehmer state that Hoover Avenue at Third Street is in a business district. We know from Officer Boehmer’s testimony that there were residential apartments along Hoover at the point where Willis made his U-turn. Further, Officer Boehmer’s testimony indicates that there was no traffic on Hoover when Willis performed the U-turn. Finally, there is nothing in Officer Boehmer’s testimony to indicate that there was a stoplight or a sign prohibiting a U-turn, or that Willis’s U-turn was unsafe.