As a public safety commissioner, planning commissioner and long-time Malibu resident, Carol Randall has been a tireless crusader in what sometimes seems like an impossible mission -getting speeders to slow down on Pacific Coast Highway. Her job may be frustrating at times, but her efforts on behalf of the community have not gone unnoticed. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl has named the safety advocate as her district’s 2007 Woman of the Year.
“Her doggedness has really helped my staff keep pushing this issue,” the senator told The Malibu Times. “Carol is deeply committed and has been a voice to make the highway safer.”
Randall will join other women from throughout the state for a special ceremony in Sacramento on Monday.
“It is a tremendous honor,” Randall said. “It’s so nice to be recognized.”
Reckless driving on the highway is something that has personally touched Randall. Four years ago, a motorist traveling 65 mph along Pacific Coast Highway near Las Flores Canyon Road killed her son-in-law in front of her family home.
Two weeks after his death, Randall went before the City Council and demanded that something be done about speeding on the highway. She worked with Kuehl’s Pacific Coast Highway Safety Task Force and pushed for legislation that would have doubled fines for speeders as a deterrent. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure. Despite the setback, the commissioner has made other important inroads on the safety front. She presides over regular meetings with Sheriff’s deputies and Caltrans to tackle traffic concerns. She has successfully worked with deputies to increase enforcement along the highway and a new motorcycle unit was added. She has also worked with Caltrans to bring six traffic speed reduction signs to the highway. The process has taken years, but city officials say the traffic calming signs could be in operation sometime within the next six months. They could possibly go up sooner if safety officials persuade the City Council to expedite the process.
Randall has been on the Public Safety Commission since its inception and was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2004. A resident of Malibu for more than 40 years, Randall has had a hand in many community concerns, but it is the safety issue that she finds to be the most personal and the most rewarding.
“It can be frustrating,” she said. “But the little things we do add up.”
Sen. Kuehl said, “It’s very hard to measure how many people did not die on the road, but we do know that thousands of people are safer because of her work.”