A frightening event on Pacific Coast Highway has compelled me write.
My husband and I were returning from seeing “A Medea in Los Angeles” at the Getty Villa when we rounded a turn to find an 18-wheeler making a U-turn from the Ventura-bound shoulder across all four lanes of PCH. It was 10:15 at night and it was dark. The 18-wheeler was steel grey with no signage. The massive vehicle blended in with the streetscape and the cloudy night sky. I was driving and braked in time to avoid crashing into the side of the massive truck as it blocked PCH in both directions. Our car would have been totaled and we could have been decapitated.
The New York-based developer, Fortress Investment Group, hopes to attract thousands of new customers to their proposed shopping mall. This means more traffic — 5,000 to 7,000 additional daily visits to Cross Creek according to a recent traffic study.
Let’s not forget that trucks — lots of them — come hand in hand with this kind of development. This means large delivery trucks and 18-wheelers will service the proposed shopping mall. Inevitably, some of the truck drivers will be just as irresponsible and reckless as the one that almost killed my husband and me.
We were lucky this time. Next time it could be you, it could be an elderly driver with reduced night vision, or it could be your young teenager who has just learned to drive.
I urge Malibu citizens to vote “no” on Measure W on Nov. 3. Vote for safety on PCH.
Charlotte M. Frieze