Compton’s latest weapon against violent street takeovers is getting laughed at online.
The city has installed rubber medians at major hotspots in an effort to keep drivers from turning intersections into donut zones — a simple-minded solution that critics say won’t stop anyone determined to drift.
“They gonna drift around it,” one critic wrote.
“All that’s gon do is make them show how they can drift around it,” another said.
But the jokes come with an inconvenient fact for the skeptics: street takeovers dropped 45% during the first and second quarters of 2026 compared with last year, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The drop followed the installation of the rubber medians in Compton and its unincorporated areas.
“We are on an elimination campaign,” city spokesperson Marcus Harris told CBS. “We want to stop all the street takeovers in the city of Compton.”
The sideshow problem has plagued Compton and Los Angeles County since the 2020 pandemic.
In 2022 alone, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to nearly 500 street takeovers in Compton.
City officials first tried “Botts’ Dots” to deter the drivers.
They were ignored.
The new rubber medians are a much tougher obstacle.
They physically block drivers from freely spinning their cars through intersections and performing donuts without risking damage to their vehicles.
At Alondra Boulevard, where the city installed the barriers in February, staff said they have not seen visible tire marks from drivers doing donuts since.
Harris said the city has installed the medians at three intersections:
- Alondra Boulevard and Central Avenue
- Long Beach and Compton Boulevards
- Wilmington Avenue and Stockwell Street
And Compton wants to take the crackdown much further.
“We’re looking forward to installing another 30 intersections to deter them from doing any type of erratic driving,” Harris said.
“But if you got a half mile over on Wilmington and Greenleaf, you’ll see how the street takeovers are tearing up our streets,” he said. “The only difference is that here at this intersection, there aren’t any rubber medians.”
“It’s about time they’ve done something about it because it’s out of control,” longtime Compton resident Willie Breaux told CBS. “I haven’t seen one take over. It’s been real mild, which helps the city with the police department, the fire department to get through to help somebody in need.”
City engineer Jack Gong said the rubber medians should last at least 10 years, making them a cost-effective way to combat the takeovers.
Compton is 72.9% Hispanic or Latino and 24.1% Black or African American, according to official US Census Bureau figures.
The city’s median household income is $78,465.
Of course, the internet had plenty to say about the city’s new anti-sideshow strategy.
“Thank you from the home owner in the area!”
“Hate this s**t. Nobody voted for these.”
“Been had these on a lot of streets in Compton, been with my gf for two years, she live in Compton and they’ve been there the whole time.”
