The recent accidents and fatalities on PCH, and your story in last week’s issue on steps the city is taking to make the highway safer, got me to thinking. Fifteen deaths on PCH in the past five years is unacceptable, and something has to be done to make drivers in our city more aware of the speed limits. Too many people are just passing through Malibu trying to get to some place else, or are coming to the beach and are more concerned with finding a parking place or a place to buy a six-pack than they are with traffic safety.
My suggestion is that the city try something used effectively on the East Coast: at every spot in our city where there has been a fatality on PCH and the other major routes into the city, such as Malibu Canyon and Kanan Dume, a cross or other suitable religious symbol be erected. This sobering reminder may just slow some of the Coastal Commission’s hallowed “visitors” down when they transit Malibu, as well as our own residents.
I noted that one or two such crosses have been erected on Topanga Canyon Blvd., so there is some precedent for this. Hopefully, Caltrans would cooperate in this plan, and the Coastal Commission would not require that a Coastal Development Permit be obtained for each such fatality marker erected in the future.
Ted Vaill