jug handle turn (was Michigan left, or should've been)

[Mark A. Mandel]

Michael McKernan wrote
<<<

>> >> 17.  The left turn is simple. If you want to turn left, go a 1/4 of
>> a  mile
>> >> past your turn, get to the left, then make a left, then make a  right.
>> >> NOW you have gone left.
>> >>
>And, on a serious note, this kind of turn is referred to as a 'Michigan
>Left'.  I believe the term is unique to MI, but I don't have the time this
>afternoon to do the research.  I just read a claim in the Free Press that
>the institution was invented in Michigan in the fifties in response to some
>bad fatalities after ordinary left turns.

I'm told that this turn originated in New Jersey (no authority given),
where it is called a 'jug handle turn'

Many of the first Google hits do appear to be from NJ (some are MA, perhaps
elsewhere too)

However, whether 'jug handle turn' means the same thing as the 'Michigan
Left' described above remains to be determined.
>>>

Growing up in Westchester county just north of NYC, I learned "jug handle"
for a section of road (I'd call it a ramp, but it's all at grade) that
splits off to the right a bit before an intersection, then curves left to
join the intersecting road. They're usually marked by some such sign as
"RIGHT TURNS FROM THIS LANE ONLY", and evidently used to prevent left turns
on thoroughfares, since you have to join the cross road and wait for the
light or the traffic. That would match the motivation described in the
quote.

It actually is shaped very much like a jug handle, the kind whose base
emerges smoothly from the side of the jug and whose top is horizontal when
the jug is level.

(And istm that the "Michigan left" doesn't equate to a left turn at all. You
have to replace "then make a left" with "then make a U-turn".)

m a m