FAQs

A sideshow is an informal demonstration of automotive stunts now often held in vacant parking lots and public intersections. Common activities at sideshows include doughnuts, burnouts, and reckless driving. They often involve spectators participating by running in between moving cars.

What are not considered sideshows:

• Gathering of car clubs in parking lots to socialize and look at each others' cars.
• Classic cars driving at a slow speed

The Santa Rosa Police Department is committed to making Santa Rosa a safe place to live, work and play and will continue to enforcement laws associated with illegal sideshows. That includes arrests of drivers and impounding of vehicles. SRPD is working with our partners in the City of Santa Rosa Office of Community Engagement to continue to educate the community on the dangers of sideshows and our efforts to prevent and/or respond them. Finally, we will work with outside law enforcement agencies experiencing similar issues and engineer creative ways to stop sideshows in Santa Rosa. That includes partnering with the Santa Rosa Traffic and Engineering Divisions to develop strategies that will prevent sideshows on streets, but allow safe travel through our neighborhoods.

The City of Santa Rosa is currently taking the following steps to prevent/deter sideshows from forming in Santa Rosa:

Towing Vehicles that Participate in Illegal Sideshows

SRPD Detectives and Traffic Investigators do investigate vehicles that participate in illegal sideshows in Santa Rosa, including continuing to follow up on recent sideshow activity. In September, warrants were written on four vehicles and later approved by Sonoma County Judges. SRPD Traffic Investigators were then able to serve the warrants and impounded all four vehicles. Numerous additional warrants are still in progress. Traffic Investigators will also continue to identify drivers, so they can be prosecuted for reckless driving, while participating in an illegal sideshow.

When a vehicle is impounded, it is held for 30 days and the registered owner is required to pay for tow fees, storage fees, and release fees. The total cost is more than $2,500. 

Community tips and videos/photographs are helpful in assisting SRPD investigators with this effort.

BotDots

The City’s Traffic Division has been working with the Traffic and Engineering Department and other Bay-Area agencies impacted by sideshow activity to identify tactics and devices to aid in addressing sideshows. One method that has been successful in other jurisdictions are the installation of Bot-Dots in intersections frequently used for sideshows. These dots are raised dots arranged in the intersection to deter reckless driving such as drifting and doughnuts. These devices can be slippery when they get wet, therefore, they are arranged in a manner so that normal vehicle traffic may straddle them while proceeding straight or making a 90-degree turn. The dot arrangement also allows for motorcycles to navigate the intersection without having to drive over the dots.

These devices were recently installed in the intersection of Sebastopol Ave and West Ave. The City will be evaluating their effectiveness over the next several weeks and will be identifying additional intersections to be installed with BotDots. We don’t expect that this alone will eliminate sideshow activity, however it is another new tool that will hopefully improve our ability to deter sideshow activity.

Continued Enforcement

 SRPD Traffic Investigators and Detectives are continually monitoring for potential illegal sideshows in Santa Rosa. Chief Navarro has authorized overtime to help with enforcement and partnered with other local police chiefs and the Sonoma County Sheriff to bolster mutual aid, if it is needed.

The City of Santa Rosa is not considering or exploring sanctioned sideshows as an option at this point, though we do understand there has been some discussions about this in the community.

Sideshows are dangerous to the participants, spectators and neighborhoods they impact.  Enforcement alone will not prevent them from happening. SRPD needs help from the community too. Report sideshow activity to SRPD and provide information about participants, educate friends and family about the dangers of sideshows, and do not attend sideshows as a spectator. Together, we can share the responsibility of preventing sideshows and keeping our neighborhoods safe for everyone.

To report non-emergency sideshow activity in your neighborhood, please call 707-528-5222. If incident involves an emergency (i.e. injury involving a pedestrian, car accident, act of violence, etc.), call 9-1-1.

You can also report non-emergency sideshow activity online filing an online report.