California Vehicle Code 22100: Turn Rules, Fines, and Points

California Vehicle Code 22100 sets the positioning rules for turns: when you turn right, both your approach and the turn itself must stay as close as practicable to the right curb; when you turn left, you approach from the far-left lane going your direction and don’t start the turn until you’re inside the intersection. Breaking the rule is an infraction that runs about $233 in total and puts one point on your DMV record.¹

How to Turn Right Legally

Hug the curb on the way in and on the way through. The statute says “as close as practicable,” which gives you room to swing slightly if a parked car, pothole, or road design pushes you out, but the default is to stay tight to the right edge so you don’t drift into the next lane.¹

Two situations change that:

If the road has lanes specifically marked for right turns, you can turn from any of those designated lanes rather than the curb lane.
If you’re turning right from a one-way street, you still approach close to the right edge, but you may finish the turn into any lawful lane on the road you’re entering.¹

How to Turn Left Legally

Your approach has to be as close as practicable to the left edge of the far-left lane open to traffic heading your way. You cannot start turning left before your car has actually entered the intersection. Once inside, you complete the turn into any lane lawfully available for traffic in your new direction.¹

One narrow exception: if you’re on a highway with three marked lanes going your direction and that highway dead-ends into a two-way road, a driver in the middle lane can turn left into any available lane on the new road. On an ordinary road, the middle lane gives you no left-turn privilege.¹

Fine and DMV Points for a 22100 Ticket

A violation is an infraction, so there’s no jail time and no criminal record.² The base fine is $35. After state penalty assessments, surcharges, and court fees, the total lands around $233 under the 2025 Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedule. Prior moving-violation convictions in the past 36 months add $10 to the base fine each.³

A conviction also adds one point to your DMV record.⁴ Points stay on the record for three years and often push insurance premiums up. Accumulate too many and the DMV labels you a negligent operator and suspends your license for six months. The thresholds are four points in 12 months, six in 24 months, or eight in 36 months.⁵

Keeping the Point Off Your Record With Traffic School

If you’re eligible, completing a state-approved traffic school course keeps the point from appearing on your public DMV record, which means your insurer can’t see it or raise your rates for it. You generally qualify if you have a valid noncommercial license and haven’t used traffic school for another ticket in the past 18 months.⁶

You still pay the full fine, plus the traffic school fee. Online courses typically run $20 to $50, though prices vary. Commercial license holders face different rules and should check directly with the court.

If Your Illegal Turn Caused a Crash

The ticket matters much more when someone else got hurt. Under California Evidence Code 669, violating a safety statute creates a rebuttable presumption of negligence. The injured person doesn’t have to prove you drove carelessly in the abstract; they point to the 22100 violation and the law presumes you failed to exercise due care.⁷

You can rebut it by showing you did what a reasonable person would have done, or that some emergency made compliance impractical. In most turn-crash cases that’s a hard argument, and insurers facing a clear statutory breach usually settle rather than fight.⁷ California’s comparative fault system reduces the injured person’s recovery by their share of blame, so a violation doesn’t automatically mean you owe everything; it just gives the other side a substantial head start on liability.

Related Rules People Confuse With 22100

Section 22100 is about lane position during the turn. A few adjacent rules govern the rest of the turn, and a citation can involve more than one.

Turn Signals

You must signal before turning or changing lanes whenever another vehicle could be affected, and the signal has to be on continuously for at least the last 100 feet before the turn.⁸⁹

Right on Red, Left on Red

California allows a right turn at a red light unless a sign forbids it. Come to a complete stop at the limit line, crosswalk, or intersection edge; yield to pedestrians and to any vehicle close enough to be an immediate hazard; then go. A left on red is allowed only when turning from a one-way street onto another one-way street, under the same stop-and-yield rules.¹⁰

Yielding to Pedestrians

A textbook-perfect turn can still get you cited if you fail to yield. Drivers must yield to pedestrians in marked or unmarked crosswalks at intersections and take whatever action is needed for their safety. Left turns are the higher-risk direction because attention typically goes to oncoming traffic rather than the crosswalk ahead.¹¹

Posted Turn Restrictions

Caltrans and local governments can post signs banning or requiring specific turns at an intersection. A posted restriction overrides the general rules in 22100, and violating the sign is its own separate offense under CVC 22101.¹²

U-Turns

U-turns are governed by CVC 22100.5, not 22100. At intersections with traffic signals or traffic-control devices, a U-turn must be made from the far-left lane available to traffic in your direction, and at signal-controlled intersections the signal itself must allow the movement, such as a green light or green arrow.¹³

1
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 22100 – Turning Upon a Highway
2
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 40000.1 – Infractions
3
Judicial Council of California. Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules 2025
4
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 12810 – Violation Point Count
5
California DMV. Negligent Operator Actions
6
California Courts Self Help. Traffic School
7
California Legislative Information. California Evidence Code 669 – Presumption of Negligence from Statute Violation
8
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 22107 – Turning and Lane Change Signals
9
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 22108 – Signal Duration
10
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 21453 – Circular Red or Red Arrow
11
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 21950 – Right-of-Way at Crosswalks
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California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 22101 – Turning Movements at Intersections
13
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 22100.5 – U-Turns at Controlled Intersections