I would like to thank our City Council for making safety on PCH a priority by supporting the traffic signal at Corral Canyon. You did the right thing. I’d also like to comment on Steve Wood’s letter.
Steve, thanks for agreeing that the intersection needed improvement. If you had a better solution on how to make it safer, please know that your input would have been valued and welcomed. I agree that we probably won’t be able to stop all the accidents caused by the bad drivers but we can certainly try to make it safer for people, especially the ones who live here. We are a community here in Malibu. People in communities are supposed to help each other and sometimes helping others involves a little personal inconvenience.
I respectfully disagree that the intersection has gotten worse. As with anything new, it’s going to take time for people to adjust to the change. The intersection has transformed from chaotic and dangerous to orderly and efficient. Gone are the screeching tires, near misses and drivers hurling curses at each other as they all tried to merge into that puny center lane at the same time. PCH traffic stops for about 15 seconds to allow Corral residents to quickly merge. U-turners, who were responsible for a fair share of the accidents, can now do so safely. Everyone seems a lot more relaxed. Is a 15 second wait too much to ask to help our neighbors?
I can’t imagine we’ll ever become like Newport Beach. With the number of activists we have here who are committed to preserving Malibu, it would be one hell of a fight, and I’d put my five bucks on the activists to win.
Theresa Tuchman