On Sunday evening, Jan. 8, I was driving south on Pacific Coast Highway headed home. As I approached the intersection of Las Flores Canyon Road, I pulled into the left-turn lane with my turn signal on, stopped and waited for the light to change or traffic to clear so that I could make a left-hand turn onto Las Flores Canyon Road. While waiting, I was hit head-on at a high rate of speed by a woman driving an SUV who did not distinguish her northbound lane from my designated southbound left-turn lane. My car was totaled and I was rushed by paramedics to Santa Monica Hospital. Needless to say, I am luck to be among the living.
Turning left at the aforementioned intersection is at best a harrowing experience. You sit there and cringe as cars headed in the opposite direction whiz by you within inches of your car at speeds of 50 to 60 miles per hour. It is a tragedy waiting to happen.
So let’s cut to the chase. As a 25-year resident of Malibu, I petition the Malibu City Council and its Road Safety Commission to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of the citizens of this community. This can be done by vastly improving left-turn lane designations and visibility markers at all canyon intersections. I call your attention to the work that has been done at Coastline Drive and West Channel Road. That work should be duplicated at all critical junctions. The life you save may be your own.
Since Pacific Coast Highway has become a surrogate freeway with traffic traveling at speeds faster than the road can accommodate or drivers can negotiate, immediate action should be taken. In the past six months, numerous accidents resulting in injuries and deaths have occurred. We are living in an extremely dangerous paradise.
Tommy Hawkins