Capital 'N' is written differently; 'U' and 'u' are unambiguous.

Because ultimately, U are the one who must make the turn.

Just call it an intersection turn and use ∩

I'd kinda feel uncomfortable calling it an "n-turn".

To make an n-turn, you’d need to star from the other side of the street, drive forward, and then back up while steering around the bend.

When creating traffic laws and regulations, this was deemed too dangerous, so they went with “u”.

(You should have seen the options when they were using a serif font…)

Capitalization, I guess. "u-turn" and "U-turn" boil down to the same movement, while "n-turn" and "N-turn" don't work so well together.

U u

N n

I think it's based on two things: where you are and how the letters start when written.

When writing letters n and U, both are started at their leftmost position (for most people) and their topmost position (for most people).

In the UK, or other places where you drive on the left, a u-turn would make a little n. While you aren't starting the turn from the topmost position of the letter, you are starting on the left of the letter.

In the US and other countries where you drive on the right, you make a U-turn because viewed from above you are making a U that starts from the top and left of the letter. While from your immediate perspective while driving your making a lowercase n but starting from the right, from above it's the classic U movement that occurs.

Just a guess though.

Think it just depends on what perspective the spectator takes.

Maybe it was named by someone watching it from the other side of the road, and not the one doing it?

Why would it be an n-turn? The n shape suggests you back up before turning. The capital U asserts that you simply turn. That's how I've always done it.

How come there isn't a dedicated u turn blinker?

Have you ever wrote the letter? An "n" would make you go the same direction but in the opposite lane.

As humans we are biased towards action and forward thinking. From the perspective of where you are heading after completing the turn, it was a U shaped turn

An n turn would have to be a U-turn with other vehicles entering. Add any more entrances and you'd have a roundabout.

For any mathematician a n-turn would be a turn segmented into n directional changes. /s

To deepen that: does a U-turn become a n turn when you have to reverse briefly because the curve was too small and thus give your path a little uptick? n

This is why I say I'm gonna "flip a bitch" instead of "make a U turn/make a U-y"

Maybe it's an US thing?

I guess it's because the U is drawn in 1 fluent motion, a u and an n have the extra line, compared to the U.

We call them shithooks.

Because it doesn’t need any experience or training.

I honestly think it's just because U turn is easier to say than n turn. Because U is a vowel, it doesn't require the glottal stop that's in n(stop)turn.

We call them shithooks.

Maybe it depends on your vehicle? I definitely do more U than "n" turns