PCH Safety Group Brings Its Message to Malibu City Officials

• Requests to Bring Highway Patrol Back to Malibu Continue to Receive  Support 

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A Safer PCH, the advocacy group that formed following the death of 13-year-old Emily Rose Shane in a traffic incident on April 3, has taken its message to both the Malibu City Council and the municipal safety commission.

“We’re going to continue meeting until we come up with solutions to make PCH safer,” ASPCH founding member Maria Flora Smoller told the safety commission.

“We are a small grassroots organization,” Julie Eamer, another of ASPCH’s founding members, told the city council Monday night. “But we have a lot of passion, a lot of anger. Maybe we can do something big.”

ASPCH’s suggestions for potential improvements on PCH include: reclaiming the right of way on PCH where landscaping and construction extends up to or over the fog line; lowering the speed limit on PCH during peak periods; increasing sheriff’s department presence; bringing the CHP back to Malibu; adding right turn lanes at hazardous intersections, including Morning View Drive, Trancas Canyon, and Westward Beach; adding left turn lanes at various intersections, including Guernsey, Latigo and Winding Way; installing additional paddles on PCH at restaurants, beaches and other illegal U-turn locations; placing bollards or k-rail to protect bus benches from traffic; and proposing traffic signals at Broad Beach Road and Latigo Canyon.

Responding to the call for action, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have already authorized additional hours in Malibu.

Caltrans has also responded. “I’ve cleared my calendar through Thanksgiving,” Caltrans traffic safety engineer Jim Riley told the safety commission, explaining that he plans to continue to attend all safety commission meetings, instead of the previous Caltrans arrangement of meeting with the commission quarterly. Riley also attended the May 10 meeting of ASPCH.

“Projects take years to complete but there are simple maintenance [projects] we can do on our own, like signage and striping,” Riley said, describing PCH in Malibu as “a unique corridor” that presents many challenges.

Riley suggested that the fog line on PCH could be widened from four inches to six inches to increase visibility. “Qwick Kurb [prefabricated center dividers that include plastic paddles] is in the construction phase in six different stretches [of PCH],” Riley said, adding that the Zuma area will have its new paddles in time for Memorial Day.

Riley reminded the commission and ASPCH that PCH also has “invisible” uses, including power and water lines, and that major changes require a complex approval process that can take years and involve many state agencies, including Fish and Game and the California Coastal Commission.

ASPCH member Jeremy Walker, who was one of several witnesses to call 911 on April 3 after observing the erratic driving of the suspect who struck Emily Shane, told the city council that he views public service announcements as a key tool in getting the message out that Malibuites will call 911 to report dangerous drivers.

“I see the looming Memorial Day weekend as a starting gun for more carnage,” Walker told the city council. “I hope the council views that date with the same urgency. We need to send a strong message in advance of Memorial Day that articulates just how much likelier it is now for dangerous drivers on PCH to get caught.”

Walker also called for the city’s current PR firm to develop PCH safety messages. “The PR firm is a powerful tool the city already has in its box,” Walker said. “It’s a tool that could, in coordination with the sheriff’s department, change drivers’ attitudes and save lives.”

Other speakers expressed the hope that the heightened awareness of PCH safety issues would extend to other Malibu roads that currently present safety issues. A large contingent of Malibu Park residents and equestrian park users spoke at the council meeting, asking the city to reclaim the right of way on Busch Drive. They presented a video of the street, showing that landscaping and structures extend up to or past the fog line in many places, potentially impeding pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians.

The council suggested placing the right of way issue on a future agenda.

“It’s a long, arduous task getting people to remove things,” city manager Jim Thorsen cautioned.

Improved signage, increased sheriff’s presence and the call to return CHP to PCH appear to have garnered widespread support.

“We’ve finally got the attention of our state representatives,” mayor pro tem John Sibert said at the city council meeting. [Fran] Pavley called Caltrans. It’s important to keep pressure on. We’ll keep pushing.”

“Of course everyone is in favor of safety, even ‘heartless’ bureaucrats,” ASPCH member Don Schmitz said to the council. Schmitz said that the current effort has the potential to “manifest real, substantive change,” and make PCH “a safer place for use and recreation.”

The next ASPCH meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, May 17, at the Malibu West Beach Club, 30756 West Pacific Coast Highway.