Just days after a gang of dirt bikes tore through San Francisco, setting off car alarms and snarling traffic, city officials proposed sweeping new rules to crack down on sideshows and other illegal stunt-driving events.
The new laws, announced Friday by Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Dorsey, would empower law enforcement by making it a misdemeanor to promote or gather for a sideshow or dirt bike event.
Officials would also like to extend the amount of time the city can hold a vehicle impounded from a sideshow — and permanently seize a car if it leads to a conviction. Anyone who impedes police trying to break up an illegal stunt-driving event could also face criminal penalties.
The laws would target dirt bike riders, who were seen this past weekend roving the city’s streets and bringing traffic to a standstill. The chaos raised questions about the city’s law enforcement response.
The stiffer penalties would bolster laws that have tried to clamp down on sideshows.
The city began implementing rules around such incidents in 2020, when the San Francisco Police Department created a Stunt Driving Response Unit comprising officers in the traffic company and Special Operations Bureau.
Supervisor Ahsha Safaí passed legislation that year that gave the SFPD impounding powers for drivers participating in sideshows.
The SFPD says it has documented 15 sideshows so far this year and seized 67 vehicles that were involved.
In an interview, Supervisor Safaí questioned how aggressively law enforcement has been tackling the issue thus far.
“The truth is, they haven’t been enforcing the law,” said Safaí, who’s also running in the November mayoral race. “I would imagine the mayor is doing this to try to show she’s doing something. Because the police department has not made this a priority.” The supervisor referenced the recent dirt-bike rider activity as a reason he believes the new laws are being proposed.
“That’s what this is about,” he said.
In a statement, the mayor called sideshows “dangerous, disruptive, and illegal,” and urged regional law enforcement coordination to combat them.
“With new technology and expanded strategies, we can work to meet this challenge, but we also need to give our officers more tools to stop these dangerous activities,” she said.
A state law that will go into effect next year will toughen penalties around sideshows. Participants could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 under Assembly Bill 3.
At least one aspect of San Francisco’s proposed law — the provision barring participation in or promotion of a sideshow — could face an uphill battle due to the vague description of what “participating” or “promoting” entails. A similar Oakland measure has resulted in a lawsuit filed by a reporter who claims the law would violate First Amendment rights.
Supervisor Dorsey called sideshows a “category of lawlessness that is viscerally upsetting” to residents. He added that questions about enforcement — specifically in reference to the legal challenge in Oakland — would work its way out in the courts.
“We gotta figure this out,” he said. “The possibility of a lawsuit doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”