In addition, a Public Safety Commissioner, whose Facebook page on cyclists drew a firestorm of criticism, says she plans to go forward with finding a solution to those who ride unsafely along the highway.
By Jimy Tallal / Special to The Malibu Times
At last week’s Public Safety Commission meeting, Jim Riley, transportation engineer with Caltrans, outlined several safety improvements for Pacific Coast Highway being made during the next several months. In addition, Public Safety Commissioner Susan Tellem announced plans to go forward with trying to find a solution to make sure bicyclists ride safely on the highway.
The Caltrans list of improvements is based partly on Riley’s onsite inspection along the 27 miles of the highway in Malibu. His determinations were assisted by a ride-along with Malibu Public Safety Commissioner Chris Frost during the Memorial Day weekend and a book of Google Earth photos outlining all the “trouble spots” on the highway provided by the grassroots coalition, “A Safer PCH.”
Of the improvements to be made, Caltrans will change the crosswalk designations at existing traffic signals from parallel lines to zebra stripes.
“It’s more of an attention-grabbing crosswalk; something we can do right away in a matter of months, like the ones in front of the La Costa Beach Club,” Riley said.
In addition, Caltrans determined that the crosswalk at Pacific Coast Highway and Morning View Drive is close enough to public schools to be designated as a yellow school zone crosswalk.
Another short-term fix will be to restripe all concrete pavement areas.
A longer term fix, which will take two to three years for Caltrans to complete, is to reconstruct all median strips that have sunken or settled. It’s not certain yet whether the worn out medians would be replaced with curbs, barriers or Qwick Kurbs.
The number of signs along the highway will also be increased during the next few months. Riley said Caltrans will add more signs to increase motorists’ awareness of speed limits and the number of “Share the Road” signs (reminding motorized vehicles and bicycles to share the road with each other) will be doubled.
Regarding bike safety on the highway, Public Safety Commissioner Tellem, who has been excoriated in letters to the editor and on Internet postings for calling for bicyclists who ride unlawfully and unsafely to be cited, announced that she will be working with Commissioner Frost, who is an avid cyclist, to come up with solutions to ensure that bicyclists ride safely. Tellem had posted “Share the Road, Share the Tickets” on Facebook, detailing her criticisms and concerns, which caused a firestorm of criticism from cycling groups.
“I had been brewing the idea of Share the Road and Share the Tickets [for a while],” Tellem said Tuesday in a phone interview, adding that it was “strictly my idea,” and had nothing to do with the Public Safety Commission. “I figured this has been going on quite a while with people complaining about cyclists, and even if it caused a nightmare for myself, [I wanted to] sit down at the table find a solution.]
Tellem plans to invite cyclists, the local traffic sergeant and others to help come up with ideas to improve cycling safety along the highway. She then plans to approach the safety commission with the issue.
In regard to local law enforcement, Sheriff’s Traffic Sgt. Phil Brooks, of the Malibu/Lost Hills station, reported that the DUI checkpoint conducted in May at a new location near Las Flores was considered to be “very successful” in terms of number of arrests and citations. The department planned to put 20 additional deputies on duty in Malibu for speed enforcement, bicycle monitoring, etc., on Sunday July 11. In addition, the beach detail went from part-time to full-time enforcement beginning July 2 with beach coverage seven days a week, 10 hours a day.
The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station issued 1,372 citations in May this year (the last month for which statistics are available), including 483 speeding tickets, 11 DUIs, 172 for alcohol on the beach, 26 for not wearing seatbelts, 80 cell phone while driving citations, 70 signs and signals violations and 75 unsafe turning citations.
In terms of crime, May saw an increase in residential burglaries and break-ins to locked vehicles. Theft from both locked and unlocked vehicles has more than doubled compared to the same time period in 2009.