Laura Tate
Time to find answers to road safety
The arrest of Mel Gibson for allegedly driving while under the influence at 87 mph is another shot heard around the world, like the Enzo Ferrari accident earlier this year. In the Ferrari accident, Bo Stefan Eriksson was allegedly driving 162 mph-more than three times the speed limit (and he was allegedly over the .08 limit of blood/alcohol level for drinking and driving)! Luckily, Gibson was stopped before anyone was killed, and miraculously, after Eriksson’s Ferrari was completely destroyed after wrapping around a telephone pole, he and his passenger survived.
Those are the fortunate cases, as far as deaths or maimings from accidents on Pacific Coast Highway are concerned, especially since alcohol and excessive speeding were involved.
Yet, I believe that many times, the accidents that end up hurting or killing people-whether they be in another car, on a bike or are a pedestrian-are caused by sober, reasonably safe drivers, except for the speed at which they drive. Last week, I nearly was flattened on Las Flores Canyon Road as I attempted to cross the two-lane street to get to my car. This is not an anomaly; it’s a regular experience, attempting to get to the other side of the road without getting killed.
The speed limit on this particular section of the road, where The Malibu Times building is located, is 25 mph. How could it be so dangerous on Las Flores, a street lined with trees, modest apartment buildings (near PCH) and homes, and such a modest speed limit?
Because, it seems, every driver on the roads these days thinks they’re Mario Andretti, or leaves their home too late and therefore has to make it up by driving too fast, or simply just doesn’t care about anything else that moves on the road, except, of course, a bigger vehicle that could crush them.
I must admit, I have not always gone the speed limit; I received many tickets when I was young (and stupid). When I had my children, my safety alert level went up, not just with driving, but with everything. And working at this paper for the past six years, and seeing all the headlines about local people being killed on the highway from reckless drivers, I am more conscious about my driving.
The section of road where we cross to get to our cars should be a relatively safe place to cross. There is plenty of distance from the point where we cross to the bend in the road, in both directions, to see if a car is coming and be able to cross without fear. And I’m not talking about sauntering to the other side, just a normal pace. With a speed limit of 25 mph, and plenty of distance to see if a car is coming, one should be able to cross the road without having to make a run for it for fear of being crushed by a ton of metal.
It made me furious: the driver of the van who came racing around the bend, me in the middle of the road, frozen for an instance like a deer caught in headlights not knowing which way it would be best to run to safety. I gave the driver a dirty look, mumbled some profanities to myself (hoping he could read lips) and decided as I was driving home to vent in this column.
I also asked our writer Kim Devore if she could turn in her story on traffic safety in Malibu that she’s been working on. Apparently, she’s been running into some roadblocks in finding answers to what are the solutions to highway and road safety in Malibu.
Everyone has a spin, but no one has answers, or they claim that someone else, some other department is responsible.
Through some complicated deal made when Malibu became a city, patrol of Pacific Coast Highway in city limits was left to the city’s responsibility-it’s even in the DMV code. If Malibu wants speeders, drunk drivers and other reckless drivers caught, then Malibu has to pay for it. So the city contracts to the Sheriff’s Department for patrol cars. And there never seems to be enough money in the budget for enough cars.
It’s not just reckless driving that causes accidents, however; there’s the seemingly constant roadwork that takes place along this narrow highway. The bicyclists killed last fall, Scott Bleifer, 41, of Santa Monica, and Stanislav Ionov, 46, of Calabasas, reportedly had to circumvent a construction barrier on Pacific Coast Highway and enter 50-mph traffic. A catering truck hit them from behind. Caltrans has to approve the placement of such structures.
I can go on and on about the problems and possible or promised solutions: about a bill that would have doubled the fines for driving over the speed limit, which our governor vetoed, or a proposed county bike safety plan that would have allowed Caltrans or the city to apply for government grants for road safety projects, which the city elected not to participate in, or a call for a summit by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who, along with Assemblymember Fran Pavley and others, is behind the PCH Safety Taskforce Committee. I don’t know if such a summit took place, but it was announced in March that 26 large “Share the Road” signs were to be installed along PCH between Santa Monica and Point Mugu to remind motorists that bicyclists have the legal right to use traffic lanes if necessary. I’ve never seen any.
It’s time to find out what’s happening-or not-to improve safety on the highway and other roads. And to find out who’s responsible for what.
Devore’s first story on this issue will be out soon.