California City Removes Illegal Speed Bumps From Public Roads

Citizens of a California city installed speed bumps after local authorities failed to stop street takeovers in their neighborhood, but now those have been removed. This is yet another example of fed up people trying to do the government’s job as they’re harmed by the lack of initiative, only to have the government undo that work.

Watch a street takeover Honda get taken down hard.

This of course happened in Oakland, which is the purported birthplace of street takeovers or “sideshows.” We covered before how people there had created barriers out of tires, planter boxes, and other items in a desperate attempt to stop the takeovers, only for the city to remove them.

In other words, this is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga. Some residents find it bitterly ironic the city won’t stop people from breaking the law with street takeovers, but it has no problem stopping them from installing measures to prevent the takeover activities.

Normally, we’d say installing speed bumps in a public road isn’t even remotely right. But in this case, when government authorities have failed to perform some of their most basic duties, we can see why people are doing this.

The city’s department of transportation director expressed frustration to KTVU with citizens taking on the sideshow problem themselves, saying those people “keep getting out in front of us.” He claims to want to solve the problem, but after years of what seems to be unchecked mayhem in city streets, let’s just say there’s reason to believe those are just words.

Ironically, the complaint with the illegal speed bumps is that they present a danger to citizens. We’re pretty sure street takeovers do as well, but those probably require taking the illegal gatherings seriously, first.

Apparently some physical barriers to stop the street takeovers which have been raging out of control are coming, but maybe not until 2027, or whenever the municipal government feels like it.

Image via KTVU