The L.A. City Council Public Safety Committee on Tuesday received a presentation by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) on the street takeovers and road racing which have become a common occurrence in the city. The committee also heard a motion by the Board of Police Commissioners and City Administrative Officer on reports relative to the takeovers.

In a motion originally introduced at the end of August 2022, the Public Safety Committee called for the Los Angeles Police Department to report back on data related to intersection takeovers that involve intersections, street segments, or other public rights of way, and to identify locations with the highest volume of calls regarding this issue citywide.

“The city can implement engineering treatments oriented towards ‘slow streets’ designs, such as re-stripping the street in order to facilitate slower vehicle speeds, to provide sustainable solutions for street racing,” the motion states. “Further studies are necessary to curtail street racing. In light of the increasingly dangerous nature of these activities, the city should continue to examine the feasibility and implementation of both temporary and permanent traffic calming measures for intersection takeovers and street racing.”

The Los Angeles Police Department reported back to the city council in the summer of 2023 with the most popular locations of street takeovers happening in L.A. from 2020-2022, as well as suggestions on how to curb it.

According to the report, the locations on the Westside where takeovers and street racing happened the most were the intersections of:

• Pacific Coast Highway and Temescal Canyon
• Lincoln Boulevard and Manchester
• Fairfax Avenue and Pico Boulevard
• Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Boulevard
• Mulholland Drive and Beverly Glen
• Olympic and Fairfax
• Mulholland Drive and Benedict Canyon
• Hollywood Blvd and Highland
• Melrose Ave and Fairfax

Calls to law enforcement increased by more than 50 percent between 2020/2021 and 2021/2022.

The locations in the report were reported as “ideal” for street takeovers due to the backdrop for social media, as well as the significant space provided for takeovers due to the locations being on multi-lane roadways.

According to input from LADOT and the Bureau of Engineering, the most effective and efficient engineering improvements would be to install:

• High-resolution surveillance cameras that would monitor and record the activity at each of these intersections. Cameras would be monitored by the automated traffic surveillance and control at LADOT and the department operations center
• Hardened center lines which are rubber, high visibility mini speed bumps that would be installed on the centerline of the roadway protruding into the intersection but out of the path of travel for vehicles and pedestrians
• “Botts dots,” or raised paved markers, added to the center area of the intersection. However, LADOT advised that the botts dots or raised markers are less effective and could have adverse effects on other vehicles, especially bicycles and motorcycles
• Installation of gutters at these high-use intersections
• Rumble Strips

According to the report, enforcement alone will not resolve the problems of street racing and street takeovers. The department plans to seek a multi-faceted approach to be achieved over the next several years, with a plan involving enforcement changes, engineering changes, installation of cameras, legislative changes, as well as impounding of vehicles. Street takeovers have become such a growing problem in Los Angeles that they’ve led to property damage, injuries, and even fatalities.

The Board of Police Commissioners and the City Administrative Officer will report back on the 50 locations throughout the city that have continuous issues with street takeovers and racing. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will report back on the needed funding to install raised center lanes, as well as funding and a timeline for implementation at the top locations throughout L.A.

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