Following the deaths of four Pepperdine University students in a high-speed collision on Pacific Coast Highway one week ago today, Malibu city officials today were weighing the possibility of enacting a local state of emergency to allow for immediate speed-reduction measures on the treacherous roadway.
"How many more deaths before something is done?'' one tearful Malibu resident told their City Council during a meeting Monday night that featured more than two dozen people calling for action to improve safety on a stretch of road many call "Dead Man's Curve.''
"This is truly a time of mourning and it is also a time for action," County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told the council. "Safety along the 21-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway has been a problem for far too long. As your L.A. County Supervisor, I am committed to identifying and implementing solutions in partnership with all of you in the city and with our state agencies... We will not let the boundaries of government bureaucracy be the reason we do not take action. We will bring everyone together to find and implement real solutions."
Horvath said she has been in touch with state transportation officials
and is calling on Caltrans to do what can be done immediately to reduce
speed limits on the highway while also bolstering California Highway Patrol
enforcement.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Jennifer Seeto, captain
of the Malibu-Lost Hills Station, told the council that deputies will have a greater
presence on the roadway. She said she is committed to "the three E's" --
education, enforcement and engineering.