Over two years after a car slammed into a crowd during a street race and killed two people, a Los Angeles city councilman had rumble strips installed on a busy Chatsworth street in an attempt to slow speeding drivers.
Councilman Mitch Englander had the rumble strips installed on Plummer Street between Canoga Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard last week. The so-called "Canoga Speedway" was the site of the deadly crash in 2015, when a Ford Mustang, which was racing another car, hopped a curb and struck three people.
"This is one of the attractions in this area where they've been for decades," Englander said.
The rumble strips were installed as part of a test program, and will give racers a little less control when they are driving.
"When they start hitting certain speeds, they get a little louder and a little bumpier, causing the driver to want to slow down," Englander said.
Englander hopes that will make racers think twice about what they are doing.
"You are losing traction, temporarily, when you go over each of those bumps. So at a high rate of speed, it would be much more unsafe," said Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Department.
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The Los Angeles Police Department said they have not received reports of street racing since the strips were installed last week.
"Anything that makes the streets a little bit safer, I'm for," driver Wendy Kadin said.
But another driver, Pertchui Gamalyan, was not convinced that they will be effective.
"I do think that something needs to be done because I think people speed down this too quickly, but I don't think those small strips are going to do the job," Gamalyan said.
Englander said other speed deterrents like speed humps are not allowed on busy streets.
"Speed humps impede first responders, these do not," he said.
The city is aware street racers may find other streets to race on, so they hope to install the strips in other spots down the road.
