Stockton Thinks Putting A Giant Skidpad In The Middle Of Intersections Will Stop Street Takeovers
As car enthusiasts, we're all for enjoying automobiles responsibly, but the keyword there is "responsibly." Unfortunately, street takeovers and sideshows have become a frequent and dangerous part of the culture that municipalities are actively trying to combat. The city of Compton, California, for example, recently found success putting strategically positioned rubber medians in intersections. Up north in Stockton, however, a similar tactic has seemingly backfired and, once you actually get eyes on the obstructions installed, it's not hard to see why.
Instead of perpendicular medians on the outside of the intersection that make it difficult to do donuts without ruining your ride, Stockton has installed little barriers arranged in a circle right in the middle of the intersection. Normal people might say it resembles a roundabout, but to those with even a single car hooligan bone in their body, it's a skidpad.
CBS News Sacramento, in fact, already caught one driver in a clapped-out E36 BMW drawing some admittedly impressive circles around the first circular barrier just a few days after it was installed at Estate and Otto in North Stockton. This particular intersection appears to be popular with the sideshow crowd, as evidenced by the tire marks that can even be seen in the Google Maps Street View.
What's dumber: going to a takeover or thinking this would work?
City councilwoman Michele Padilla, who worked with the city to get these installed, told CBS that more of these drift circles, er, takeover deterrents are coming to other Stockton intersections, despite their apparent ineffectiveness. She was not able to provide an exact figure when asked about cost.
When you're inside the car enthusiast bubble, it's easy to forget how disconnected the average person (or city council member) is when it comes to cars, but stories like this serve as a good reminder. This whole thing is so clearly a product of a committee that had collectively seen zero "Fast & Furious" movies, and it was drawn up by somebody whose knowledge of sideshows starts and ends with a poor description. Either that, or the takeover kids have infiltrated Stockton city council and have successfully used tax dollars to pay for their own personal skidpads.
It's probably worth pointing out that these intersection circles have multiple road signs in the middle, directing traffic to "Keep Right," and the large yellow devices that make up the circle seem to be very similar to concrete parking blocks. Hitting one with even just a single wheel could seriously damage your car, but that doesn't seem to decrease the appeal of doing a perfectly-formed donut around the circle.