PD Editorial: The solution to sideshows isn’t more sideshows

All you need to do is open a window — and that may not be necessary — for an audible sample of a pandemic-inspired trend.

A lot of car enthusiasts dedicated the past 19 months to making their vehicles louder and faster. California’s aftermarket auto parts industry enjoyed a record $47.9 billion in sales in 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing data from the Specialty Equipment Market Association.

All that noise can be a nuisance, but some drivers are doing more than revving up their engines to a thunderous roar.

CHP responded to more than 25,000 calls involving illegal street racing last year. Then there is the phenomenon known as a “sideshow,” where people form a circle in an intersection and drivers take turns doing doughnuts, figure eights and other stunts.

Sideshows have been common in the East Bay for many years, migrating from shopping center parking lots to public streets. Now they’re occurring with some frequency in Santa Rosa, usually late at night.

This isn’t harmless fun — just exhaust smoke and squealing tires. Participants and spectators have been killed and injured, and so have unsuspecting motorists in the path of racing cars. In 2005, a 17-year-old Santa Rosa girl named Michelle Krshul died when a pickup racing on West College Avenue slammed into her car. A woman was run over and critically hurt at a Sacramento sideshow last year.

There also has been violence — shootings and, as at sideshows last year off Santa Rosa Avenue and last month in Roseland, stabbings.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that will allow judges to suspend driver’s licenses for up to six months for participating in a sideshow. But the new penalty doesn’t take effect until 2025. Until then, the maximum suspension remains 90 days.

Police can impound participants’ cars for 30 days. With towing and storage fees, the cost can exceed $2,500. That may be a better deterrent, and we encourage Santa Rosa police to continue impounding cars and citing participants.

Santa Rosa Councilman Eddie Alvarez, meanwhile, wants the city to explore possible locations for publicly sanctioned sideshows, with vendors and spectators behind barricades. “Why not make lemonade out of lemons?” he asked.

The city has posted a survey online to gauge public opinion about sideshows, law enforcement options and sanctioned alternatives, accompanied by a map that shows reported sideshow locations in all four quadrants of the city.

Alvarez is thinking out of the box, and that’s laudable. But before organizing events involving vehicles weighing a ton or more and traveling at high speeds, city officials should consider who would be liable for any injuries. With its deep pockets, the city always is a target for lawsuits.

Even assuming a safe location can be found, is the outlaw atmosphere of an unsanctioned sideshow part of the attraction? Will spectators accustomed to standing a few feet from the speeding cars be satisfied with staying behind barricades?

Sonoma Raceway has sponsored Wednesday Night Drags for years, inviting amateur drivers to test their skills on a professional racing track. That hasn’t prevented the rise of sideshows, and we’re skeptical that sanctioned sideshows will alleviate the problem.

City officials note that many sideshow participants are young and lacking social outlets. That has been a recurring complaint, in this community and elsewhere, for generations. Finding social outlets is a challenge; ignoring dangerous driving isn’t the solution.

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.