I am a cyclist who lives in Malibu about two miles from the site where the reportedly criminally negligent driving by the driver of a catering truck resulted in the tragic death of two cyclists on PCH northbound just north of John Tyler Drive. I have ridden that stretch of road hundreds of times and probably a dozen times since the construction barricades were installed at the Malibu Jewish Center construction site, cutting off all bicycle access to the shoulder for about 50 yards.
I could not imagine how the driver could have failed to see the cyclists, especially when I learned that one was passing the other, so they were riding two abreast. In my memory, that stretch was a straight uphill, so the driver should have been able to see the cyclists for hundreds of yards before impact. Then I rode the stretch again on Saturday. Actually, there are two aspects that make that stretch of highway a particularly dangerous place to install construction barricades forcing cyclists onto the highway.
One, there is actually a short downhill before the uphill, so a negligent driver will pick up some speed on the downhill. Two, there is actually a dogleg right hand curve just where the downhill turns into an uphill-which is precisely where the concrete barricades begin. So there is something [equal to] approaching a blind spot as vehicles come into, then out of the curve. So re-create the scene. The driver is not paying attention but instead is talking to the person standing in the back of the catering truck. He picks up speed on the downhill then coming out of the curve is suddenly right on top of the cyclists.
Now we should do what we can to reduce or eliminate contributing causes. Accordingly, whatever government agency issued the permit for the construction barricades should immediately rescind it and the barricades should be removed. Even should that not happen, the Malibu Jewish Center should voluntarily remove the barricades or re-position them so cyclists have at least a few feet of passage without having to go onto a very busy highway where vehicles routinely approach or pass 60 miles an hour.
Dominic Surprenant