NBCLA/YouTube We're probably more inclined to condone having "fun" in cars than the average website, but street takeovers (sometimes also called "sideshows") are a reckless and dangerous aspect of modern car culture that arguably gives anyone with even a passing interest in fast automobiles a bad name. You've probably already seen the social media videos, but in case you're unaware, street takeovers are when a bunch of people (usually young and probably a little dumb) gather by the dozens at intersections with cars and do donuts, burnouts, and generally cause a huge ruckus. The city of Compton, California, is now combating the phenomenon by putting rubber medians in the intersections to make them less appealing as vehicular playgrounds. In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, Jack Gong from Compton Public Works Engineering said the city has placed rubber bumps at 22 different intersections, with over 176 "bumps" installed. One of them is Center and Alondra, which is apparently a takeover hot spot, as evidenced by the tire marks that are still visible in the NBC Los Angeles report. Eight raised rubber strips are placed at each intersection (two in between where you'd turn left and the opposing lanes on all four sides) in a way that drivers wouldn't drive over them when using the intersection correctly. It's working Construction Photography/avalon/Getty Images If you're spinning a stolen Infiniti G37 around or doing mad drifts in your Scat Pack Charger dangerously close to dozens of friends, hitting one of these medians will likely cause major damage to the vehicle or, at the very least, big alignment problems. And it sounds like it's working, with locals reporting no more takeovers at intersections that received the rubber bumps, and the LA County Sheriff reporting a 45% drop in takeovers in Compton since the installations started last year. In addition to the 22 intersections already median-ed up, Compton plans to do the same at 23 more intersections to eliminate the phenomenon of takeovers city-wide. Unrelated but related, the city of Toronto, where I'm based, recently started employing similar intersection humps, not to combat takeovers but to slow turning cars down in an effort to improve pedestrian safety. Perhaps Compton will see some improvements on that front, too.
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