Tired of sideshows and reckless driving, residents of Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood put tires filled with rocks and dirt in their streets as a deterrent. The City of Oakland quickly removed them.

With sideshow season in full swing, and law enforcement flummoxed over how to respond, residents of the East Oakland neighborhood of San Antonio pooled their resources and decided to try their own renegade solution. At a spot just about half-mile from where five people were shot during a slideshow two weekends ago, KTVU reports that residents put tires filled with rocks and dirt in the streets as a sideshow deterrent.  

The above video shows these makeshift tire barriers. Some are just individual tires with rocks in them in the middle of the street, others are full roundabouts with painted tires and flowers or plants in them. Both arrangements are intended to deter what residents say is a rash of reckless driving on their street.

"They almost killed someone," resident Michael Andemeskel told KTVU. "There’s a school up there. Kids have been hit on this street. There are people whose cars have been crashed into and totaled."

Yet the City of Oakland found out about these, and removed the unauthorized barriers while KTVU’s crew was shooting their segment. Residents can be seen complaining to the city workers, but the employees still carried out the job and removed the tires.

"We all want safer streets, but increasing the risk to the public by installing hazards is not the solution,” Oakland citywide communications and engagement director Sean Maher said in a statement to KTVU. “The city will be promptly removing these unauthorized, dangerous installations."

That department has a point that these unauthorized barriers present safety risks of their own. Indeed, one car flipped onto its side on the street this past Saturday on the street with the barriers. KTVU says that neighbors “hope it will teach other drivers a lesson,” but frankly, your street is vastly less safe if there are cars flipping onto their sides, and you never what (or who) those cars may hit.  

But per KTVU, those residents “vow to keep installing more barriers until the city comes up with a permanent solution,” such as speed bumps at affected intersections.

Related: Sideshow Near Fruitvale BART In Oakland Leads to Shootout That Injures Five [SFist]

Image: Nikola Tasic via Unsplash