The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Lt. Chad Watters provided an update on traffic and safety to the City Council on April 25.
Last weekend, deputies conducted traffic safety enforcement operations targeting the pop-up car show that has been occurring every weekend in the shopping center parking lots around Cross Creek Road. The car gatherings have caused traffic safety issues, drawing huge crowds, causing traffic congestion, noise and taking up all of the parking spaces that the businesses need for their customers.
Deputies wrote 49 citations for speeding and racing. One of the vehicles was towed. Nine of them were cited for loud exhaust and were sent to the “Traffic Referee” who determines if their exhaust system must be replaced or remodeled.
To assist the property owners of the Malibu Village shopping center in addressing the car shows, the Malibu-Lost Hills Station is working on signs to inform the public that the California Vehicle Code will be enforced in the parking lot.
Frequent parking violations that occur during the car shows include parking in a fire lane, parking in a handicap spot, no registration, altered exhaust, and no, or improperly displayed, license plates.
The department also conducted a pedestrian and cyclist traffic safety crosswalk operation, resulting in 46 citations for fail-to-yield, five for cellphone use, one for unsafe speed and one for unlicensed driver.
The department wrote 914 citations during the last month, 316 of which were for unsafe speeds. Malibu/Lost Hills Station also continued to mitigate the large numbers of overnight parked RVs in Malibu. In the coming month, deputies will be conducting operations targeting beach/vehicle thefts