What the Street Takeover in Mission Valley May Say About Us

The news about that so-called street takeover Sunday evening in Mission Valley is stirring up concerns.

As first reported by NBC 7, traffic came to a complete halt at the busy intersection of Camino de la Reina and Hotel Circle when an estimated 50 vehicles blocked it off so that some drivers could do doughnuts with their cars as onlookers surrounded the area watching the stunts as tires screeched. One person was reported injured, and cops made a couple of arrests. One guy admitting he was driving recklessly.

It was described as an unexpected event. But maybe it should have been expected given the reckless behavior of what seems to be a growing number of reckless and speeding drivers.

It was something we started to see more of during the early months of the pandemic, with lockdowns making the freeways clear of traffic and giving drivers who speed more room and opportunity to speed.

But now two years later, with traffic congestion back to normal, there still seems to be more speeding drivers, and more drivers in vehicles and on motorcycles who are weaving and zipping between cars in unsafe and dangerous ways. We’ve even seen more road rage cases lately.

Did the pandemic create more aggressive drivers? It sure seems that way.

But then it may just be a sign of the increased anger and furor we’ve seen in general about a lot of things from the pandemic to politics to prices during the last few years. We’ve heard it before, that we’re all in this together. Maybe it’s time for everyone to start acting like it and not acting up like children.

(Photo Getty Images)