Tennessee driving lesson · Turning, Passing & Lane Use
Roundabouts & U-turns
A 3-minute lesson from the Tennessee course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Roundabouts slow traffic and cut down on serious crashes. Many Tennessee towns have an older form called the town square. U-turns, meanwhile, are banned in many places because they put you across traffic where others can't see you coming.
Roundabout
An intersection where traffic circulates around a central island. Used to slow speeds, reduce crashes and keep commuters off neighborhood streets.
Interstate emergency crossovers are only for emergency vehicles and highway maintenance crews. Using them to turn around, or cutting across the median, is illegal — drive on to the next exit.
You miss your exit on I-65. Don't slow down, back up or use the grassy crossover. Continue to the next exit, get off, and re-enter going the other way.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
Inside a roundabout, traffic should always travel:
To the left, in a clockwise direction
Counter-clockwise, to the right
In whichever direction is shortest
In either direction if it is clear
Answer: Counter-clockwise, to the right
Traffic in a roundabout always travels to the right, in a counter-clockwise direction.
U-turns are prohibited at all of the following EXCEPT:
An intersection controlled by a traffic light
The crest of a hill where you cannot see 500 feet
A rural road with 500 feet of view each way
Between intersections within a city
Answer: A rural road with 500 feet of view each way
U-turns are banned at signal- or officer-controlled intersections, near curves or hill crests without 500 feet of view, between intersections in a city, and where signs prohibit them; a rural road with clear 500-foot views is not on that list.
