Electronic traffic safety signs in Encinitas, California, were physically accessed and reprogrammed this week to display profanity and at least one antisemitic message, according to local news reports and social media posts, forcing the city to shut or reset units and prompting a sheriff’s investigation.
Electronic road signs installed across Encinitas as part of a traffic-calming campaign were altered to show explicit language, graphic imagery and what local outlets described as at least one antisemitic message, according to reporting and posts reviewed by DysruptionHub.
The portable message boards were deployed on major corridors to remind drivers to slow down, watch for pedestrians and heed crosswalks after a series of high-profile crashes, including the April death of 12-year-old Emery Chalekian and an October incident in which a truck slammed into Gelato 101 and pinned a 9-year-old boy inside the shop.
Instead, residents this week woke up to screenshots and videos circulating in neighborhood chats that showed the signs flashing obscenities, crude images and hate speech. Several neighbors reported drivers braking abruptly or slowing to take photos of the altered boards, fueling concerns that the messages were distracting motorists rather than improving safety.
City officials say the incident was a physical breach, not a remote cyber intrusion. Investigators believe someone broke or bypassed simple padlocks on the control boxes, opened the cabinets and manually reprogrammed the displays. Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers told local TV the vandalism appeared to be a “prank” that crossed a line once obscene symbols and images were placed in front of passing traffic, and said it was at least the fourth time in about three months that someone has tampered with a message board in the city.
At least one of the altered variable-message signs was owned and operated by a subcontractor hired for street work, rather than by the city itself, Ehlers said. Encinitas has been experimenting with about a dozen trailer-mounted variable-message signs and other electronic warnings around the city as part of a broader push to slow drivers, according to officials.
City crews have now reset or shut down multiple boards across Encinitas while the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office investigates. Officials say remaining units are being inspected, locks are being upgraded, and additional physical security measures for control panels are under review.
Under California Vehicle Code §21464, tampering with official traffic control devices, including signs and signals, is a crime that can carry fines or jail time when public safety is put at risk. Local coverage notes that investigators are evaluating potential charges as they try to identify who accessed the cabinets and changed the messages.
Encinitas officials have not reported any crashes directly linked to the altered displays but acknowledge the risk of distraction as drivers slow or look away from the road to read or record the offensive content. City leaders are also weighing whether some portable sign deployments should be reduced or relocated if they are found to cause more distraction than deterrence.
The altered signs come as Encinitas faces intense scrutiny over road safety after the child death and near-fatal gelato shop crash. Families of victims and advocates have pressed the city to move faster on crosswalk upgrades, traffic-calming projects and enforcement. The temporary electronic boards were one of the quickest tools the city could deploy while longer-term engineering fixes are designed and funded.
Similar public-display takeovers surfaced this year. In Washington, a digital billboard at Lakewood Towne Center cycled through political memes after an apparent hack. In October, Harrisburg International Airport reported a 10-minute unauthorized recording that delayed a Delta departure, and airports in Kelowna and Victoria, British Columbia, saw brief rogue terminal messages, with Victoria attributing its incident to a cloud-based software issue. Earlier in the year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shut off office TVs after an unauthorized AI-generated video appeared, and Columbia University said images briefly flashed on campus monitors during a cyberattack later tied to data theft.
Encinitas is a coastal city of roughly 60,000 people in northern San Diego County, about 25 miles north of downtown San Diego.
Officials are asking anyone with information or video of the tampering to contact the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. In the meantime, several signs remain dark while the city assesses the full extent of the changes and prepares to add stronger safeguards before putting the boards back into service.
