In recent weeks, I have read letters in your paper concerning the feasibility of a light where Corral Canyon meets Pacific Coast Highway, largely as a result of the campaigning for a light by some of the Canyon’s residents.
I’ve lived in Malibu for over 20 years and, due to incidents personally witnessed, I felt it necessary to write my own letter to your paper. I travel the stretch of PCH that goes by Corral at least two times daily, sometimes more. On daily occasions, I see people coming from Corral Canyon taking completely unnecessary risks so that they can get onto PCH when, in fact, waiting perhaps another 30 seconds would allow risk free entry onto the highway. I have had to slam on my brakes more times than I can count while heading north, simply because someone coming from Corral didn’t want to wait for a safe time to pull out onto the highway. So, because certain people who live in Corral are impatient and don’t want to wait several seconds, the City is supposed to give them a light? I don’t think that’s a viable answer to their complaint about the traffic. Hey, traffic is a way of life here in Malibu and just about every place else, so the people in Corral should learn to deal with it safely like the rest of us do. A light there would only cause more of a traffic headache for everyone else in Malibu and everyone who drives on the highway.
If the light campaigners in Corral say they deserve a traffic signal, then certainly don’t the people who live on Sea Vista and Zumirez and Ramirez Mesa and Zuma View Place and Escondido and so on, also deserve lights? These people are patient and willing to wait a few seconds longer for a good break in traffic before entering onto PCH, which is exactly what the good people of Corral should resign themselves to doing. Perhaps this letter will generate some more letters in defense of putting in a traffic light, but it will be based on a platform of their impatience, not a valid need. That’s my two cents worth.
Jamie Sterling