My morning started like any other. It was early and I was headed to work in a hurry, exhausted from the long work day before. My commute to work wasn’t very far from my home, yet it was always a stressful one. This particular day, I didn’t get very far. In fact, I only made it about a ¼ of a mile (0.4km) from my apartment when I crossed through a notoriously busy intersection as the light was changing from green to yellow. The roads in this area of the neighborhood have a confusing set up and it is quite dangerous considering that there are so many vehicles coming from many different directions at relatively high speeds. The speed limit for this strip of road is 45mph (72km/h).
The streets are all one way and they are three lanes wide. These are called “frontage roads” and they run parallel to the freeway. In order for someone to switch directions (change from north to south or vice versa) on the frontage road, they must get in the turnaround lane aka the "Texas U-turn", which makes a sharp left turn under the freeway overpass.