Running a NASCAR track through a residential neighborhood, beach community and university town is a bad idea. Everyone in Malibu knows that, because anyone who has lived in Malibu for any length of time has witnessed, heard, dodged, cringed, caused, been inconvenienced, victimized, traumatized or all of the above by high speed driving traffic accidents.
Idiotic, irresponsible, adrenalized, deadly driving is epidemic. Citizens living along PCH face the daily dread of backing their cars onto the Autobahn. Surfers running across PCH mesmerized by the waves play Frogger with their lives. Bicyclists avoiding car doors. Motorcyclists splitting lanes. Moonshadows employees regularly run across the “valet of death.”
PCH is a charnel house and has been going back at least as far as World War II when - believe it or not - driving PCH at night with headlights on was illegal. There was a fear Japanese subs would use those lights for targeting, but there were dozens of car crashes and deaths because of that law.
And through the decades, PCH has injured, maimed or claimed dozens and hundreds, famous and anonymous:
In 1985, writer Diane Thomas had hit it big with Romancing the Stone and was working on other projects, when her boyfriend crashed her Porsche into a tree near Zuma. Thomas was killed.
In 1992, Ben Vereen suffered a stroke, crashed, injured his head and probably suffered a stroke or a concussion. That night he wandred onto PCH at 2:00 in the morning and was struck by record producer David Foster. Vereen was seriously injured.
Emily Shane in 2010. Caitlyn Jenner involved in a fatal accident at Corral Canyon Road in 2015.
And now Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams.
On and on. Famous and anonymous. Dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. PCH doesn’t play favorites.
Everybody knows PCH is deadly dangerous and there have been decades of hand-wringing, editorializing and attempted legislating - but like the weather, everyone talks about high speed on PCH but no one does enough to monitor that speed and mitigate the risks.
But now there is a ray of hope.
In mid-September, the California state assembly and senate wisely and finally voted into law Assembly Bill 645. Subtitled “Vehicles: Speed Safety System Pilot Program,” the law allows pilot programs for speed cameras and other mechanized traffic control systems in certain California test jurisdictions.
Governor Newsom signed the bill into law on October 13 - one day after 25-year-old Geoffrey’s employee Luis Fernando Escobar Gonzalez died in a single-car - possibly high speed - accident on Malibu Canyon Road that closed it for five hours.
Four days after Newsom signed the law, 22-year-old Fraser Bohm crashed his BMW on Dead Man’s Curve, causing the death of four Pepperdine seniors. The investigation closed PCH both ways for 15 hours.
PCH through Malibu is controlled by CalTrans and monitored by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. There aren’t enough Deputies to patrol the two main exits out of Malibu. Parking dummy Sheriff vehicles is cute, but disregarded by locals because after a day they know it’s a decoy.
Speed bumping PCH like Malibu Road would slow things down, but will never happen - too many low-slung Ferraris and Lamborghinis - not to mention fire trucks and ambulances need to get places in a hurry.
And PCH is a state highway, not Malibu Road.
These are the days of miracles and wonders: Electric cars, Soyrizo, Artificial Intelligence, yoga pants, shooting rockets to Mars. Surely a clever, tool-loving species can devise some electronic, computerized system that can accurately gauge the speed of a moving vehicle, identify the owner/driver of the vehicle and send them a notice of warning and/or violation?
Some public safety officials and citizens believe the unblinking, infallible eye of speed cameras are the only way to monitor and mitigate speed on roads and highways. Governor Newsom has wisely signed that bill into law - but unfortunately the law does not yet include the place that needs it most.
Assembly Bill 645 was written by 44th District Assembly member Laura Friedman and was passed by the California Senate 29/6/5 on September 12 and the California Assembly on September 13 62/9/9.
The legislation can be downloaded here for those who want to read all of it:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billVotesClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB645
Regarding Malibu, AB645 disregards Malibu. The bill as passed and signed into law designates the Cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and Long Beach, and the City and County of San Francisco will be permitted to establish a Speed Safety System Pilot Program if the system meets specified requirements - which are minutely detailed in the bill.
City and County of San Francisco but only the city of Los Angeles, which means Malibu is not included in the pilot program - a fatal oversight.
Section 1 states that traffic speed enforcement is critical to reduce factors that contribute to traffic collisions that result in fatalities or injuries. But traditional enforcement methods have had a well-documented disparate impact on communities of color, and implicit or explicit racial bias in police traffic stops puts drivers of color at risk.
What that means is, machines don’t discriminate by race, creed, color, zip code, net worth or value of vehicle - only on speed.
Under AB645, jurisdictions with a population of less than 300,000, the bill allows no more than nine systems.
For Malibu, some of those locations are obvious: The intersection of Stuart Ranch Road and PCH. The Frogger zone from the Malibu Pier to Cross Creek Road. Both sides of the approach to Dead Man’s Curve at Carbon Canyon Road and Dukes. Malibu Canyon at PCH.
(While writing this, Howdy Kabrins asked who owns the La Salsa building and statue. He wants to hang a SLOW DOWN! sign from La Salsa Man.)
According to AB 645, the zones watched by speed cameras must be forewarned with “Photo Enforced” signs no more than 500 feet before the placement of the system.
Under the pilot program, those caught speeding will be issued warning notices rather than notices of violation for excess speed detected by the speed safety systems during the first 60 calendar days of enforcement under the program.
For those worried about Big Brother and privacy: “The speed safety system, to the extent feasible, shall be angled and focused so as to only capture photographs of speeding violations and shall not capture identifying images of other drivers, vehicles, or pedestrians.”
The speed cameras will be triggered by cars traveling 11 MPH or more over the posted speed limit and notices of violation shall only be issued to registered owners of those vehicles based on that evidence.
Penalties will be $50 for 11 to 15 MPH over, $100 for 16 to 25 MPH, $200 for 26 MPH or more over the posted speed limit. And those going 100 MPH or more over the posted speed limit, the fine will be $500 - and most likely a stern talking-to by a judge.
There is a lot more to the law, but that’s the gist as it applies and doesn’t apply to Malibu. There are more than a few public safety officials all too familiar with the danger of PCH who are all for it.
In 2019 I heard then saw a 76-year-old man hit by a car and killed during the opening of Cliff Diver. In 2009 I saw the son of a famous actor lose control of his giant American car heading westbound at Surfrider, hop the curb on the inland side and nearly kill a surfer girl changing out of her wetsuit. And as someone who lived along PCH next to the Verizon building for many years - and learned to hate the sound of breaking glass - and as someone who crosses with the light at PCH and Webb Way a couple of times a day, I know all too well how crazy dangerous PCH is. We all do.
People drag race along Malibu Road behind Ralphs. Dumb.
I began writing this story on the morning of Wednesday, October 18 after reading that Governor Newsom had approved a speed camera law. Just as I said for years Malibu needs a sports bar - and now we have Sparkys! - I’ve also believed speed cameras are the only way to monitor and mitigate speed and reduce casualties on PCH.
On Oahu the police drive their own cars with blue lights always visible flashing on top. The thinking is, anyone who sees that blue light will stop doing what they’re doing wrong - including speeding. I say the same thing could work on PCH: Speed cameras with lots of bells and whistles threatening fines would slow people down - even if half the cameras were decoys.
That Wednesday morning I began writing this and contacting CalTrans, the Highway Patrol and other agencies. An email to the Lost Hills station for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department returned an almost immediate phone call from Captain Jennifer Seetoo.
Think of the angry African American female cop exasperated by dealing with drunk hooligans in “The Hangover:” “Every F@#$% day!!!” Captain Seetoo is a more polite, professional, measured version of that angry cop.
But it’s not at all funny. It’s life or death. Every F@#$% day, week, month, year!!!
In an animated, emotional conversation, Captain Seetoo said, in essence, that her Deputies were more than fatigued - physically and emotionally - by constantly having to deal with injury and fatality accidents along PCH and throughout the Lost Hills jurisdiction - the majority of them caused by high speed driving but also illegal turns: Comforting injured and dying accident victims, contacting next of kin and blocking PCH and Canyon roads for as much as 12 hours to allow for thorough investigations and ensure justice for victims.
Captain Seetoo believes speed cameras have proven effective in Europe and she would love to see them applied through Malibu and elsewhere - Calabasas, Westlake Village. High speed driving is a problem everywhere. See: The Iskander brothers in Westlake Village, September of 2020.
After a day of emailing, calling, researching in a sad case of synchronicity - sadchronicity - that very same Wednesday evening at around 8:30, a Malibu kid caused the death of four young Pepperdine girls and made ghoulish headlines around the world.
A day after the accident, I talked to a local guy - code name Fights With Sharks - nursing a beer at Sparkys who was still shook after witnessing the before, during and aftermath of the accident. He witnessed the speeding BMW and when they stopped at the red light at Dukes, he attempted to tell the driver to cool it. The driver zoomed off and 15 seconds later, the citizen came across carnage.
This guy drove right into the middle of it, pulled the kid from the car and stayed there for three hours. The next day he still had a grim look of horror. This is what the Deputies, firefighters, EMTs and ambulance drivers have to deal with: “Every f@#$ day!!!”
Around Malibu from Sparky’s to the Chevron Station to Legacy Park to the newsstand, I got the inside scoop on the Who, What, When Where, How Much and How Fast. Someone said Fraser Bohm had that car only two days before the crash, and other rumors pegged his speed at anywhere from 80 to 140 MPH. Some say he was racing, texting, reaching for something. The investigation will reveal all that soon.
I’m sworn to secrecy, but the public details are available elsewhere - from this Malibu Times to People Magazine to The Guardian UK
The question some ask: “Would a speed camera at Dead Man’s Curve have prevented that tragedy?”
If there were a warning sign at the traffic light at Duke’s - and another at Carbon Canyon Road on the other side of Dead Man’s Curve - letting everyone know they were entering a highway danger zone monitored by the unblinking eye of speed cameras that would hand out hundreds of dollars in fines: Would that have slowed the guy down? Would it have slowed down anyone?
At a Thursday afternoon press conference, the day after the crash, Captain Seetoo mentioned speed cameras: “Right now we’re looking at speed cameras, we have to look at law enforcement differently, we’ve got to change with the times where technology is an option and these speed cameras will be in six cities starting in 2024,” Seetoo said. “We’ve got to keep our eyes on this technology because we believe that it will save lives, we’ve got to do something about it. PCH is deadly. We’ve lost way too many people on PCH. It’s a highway that runs through a city and a college town.”
One of the people I called was retired firefighter/paramedic Gene Rink, who was assigned to LA County Fire Station 88 as a paramedic/engineer (driver). The paramedic’s jurisdiction covers PCH from Coastline Drive to Corral Canyon which included most of Malibu and Topanga Canyon. Rink also dealt with the carnage “Every f##$% day!!” and was not at all hesitant to speak on the record about the dire need to improve traffic safety on PCH: "I talked to Pamela Ulich about this years ago," Rink said. "At the time I said they should reduce the speed limit through Malibu to 35 miles per hour. You've got paparazzi running across PCH chasing celebrities, valets running and customers wobbling out of Moonshadows, surfers crossing PCH at Surfrider. All of it insanely dangerous. Speed cameras will slow people down if they think it's going to effect their pocketbook. I'm all for it.”
Speed cameras are coming to California and that’s good, but they won’t be protecting Malibu for a while - if ever - unless the citizens and city fathers stop talking about the weather and do something about it.
High speed driving is a clear and present danger along the 21 Mile Pacific Coast Autobahn and if speed cameras are the answer, can Malibu wait until 2032?
As a citizen and a Sheriff, Captain Seetoo believes AB645 is encouraging and a start, but it does not apply to the community and highway that needs it most: “California needs a bill - a new bill that applies to state highways. We can’t piggyback the current bill because it excludes state highways. We can use some of the same verbiage but must create a bill.”
Captain Seetoo believes the tragedy of Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams - and Fraser Bohm, whose name, life, future and conscience have mostly like been permanently damaged - will be a catalyst and a turning point in the effort to Make PCH Safe Again: “We as a community must work together and say enough is enough,” Captain Seetoo said in an email on Sunday October, 22 as she was preparing for an emotional memorial at Pepperdine University. “We must not let the tragic deaths of these four young women, who had so much to live for, be in vain. We must stop the blame game, allow promises that go unfilled, and we must demand real change.”
Captain Seetoo is not alone in this: “On Thursday morning, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Sheriff Robert Luna, Mayor Steve Uhring, and nearly all the Malibu Council members personally called and pledged their support to make PCH safe. We owe it to these four young women, their families, and all those who’ve lost loved ones on PCH. I promise the community, I will not stop until there is REAL change that will save lives.
Captain Seetoo said her focus will be on the Three Es: “Education, Enforcement, and Engineering. But, I need the help of the community and elected officials. I’m now working with a non-profit called, “Streets Are For Everyone.” The founder of this non-profit, Damian Kevitt, was instrumental in getting the speed camera bill - AB645 - passed. I’m also working with grassroot community members including Kathy Eldon, Chris Wizner, Chris Frost, Michel Shane, Keegan Gibbs, and Dermot Stoker.
Dermot Stoker said it best, “There is no I in can’t!”
“We know enforcement works. We witnessed this in 2019 when Supervisor Sheila Khuel gave Malibu Sheriff’s Station nearly a half a million dollars to provide enforcement on PCH in Malibu. I worked with Andy Cohen and Chris Frost to split the 21 miles of PCH in four sections. Patrol deputies did high-visibility patrol and enforcement. This was the first summer I know of where there weren’t any fatalities, and collisions were reduced. Enforcement works, but unfortunately there is a nationwide lack of peace officers. So now we must use technology to fill that gap, and speed cameras can fill that gap.”
These are the days of miracles and wonders, but you have to wonder how long it will take to protect Malibu citizens and visitors with the unblinking eye of speed cameras.
THE NEED FOR SPEED…. CAMERAS
If there is a silver lining in the tragedy of Pepperdine students Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams, that incident might be the tipping point in the citizens of Malibu and city, county and state officials taking serious steps toward reducing speed on PCH through Malibu, and lowering the risk that everyone faces on that bloody stretch of road.
On October 13, Governor Newsom approved the trial use of speed cameras in several California jurisdictions - but not Malibu. Captain Seetoo of LASD Lost Hills and many others - including Malibu Times - will not give up on pushing for speed cameras along PCH. Here are some numbers surrounding and supporting the need for speed cameras on Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu.
9: Number of speed cameras allowed for a population under 300,000 under AB645.
15 years to life: Sentence handed down to Sina Khankhanian, 26, for causing the death of Emily Shane on April 3, 2010.
49: Fatalities along PCH through Malibu from 2012 and 2022 according to the CHP.
40 - 55 MPH: Speed limit through Malibu.
$50: Fine for 11 to 15 MPH over speed limit under AB 645.
$100: Fine for 16 to 25 MPH over speed limit under AB 645.
$200: Fine for 26 MPH over speed limit under AB 645.
$500: Fine for 100 MPH over speed limit under AB 645.
70 - 104 MPH: Estimated/rumored/reported speed of Fraser Bohm between the traffic light at Duke’s and the 21600 block of PCH - aka Dead Man’s Curve.
2,749: Feet from the traffic light at Las Flores and PCH to 21600 PCH, aka Dead Man’s Curve.
150: American cities using speed cameras according to foxla.com.
62/9: California Assembly Ayes and noes when voted on September 13 2023. Nine non voting.
29/6: California Senate Ayes and Noes when voted on September 12 2023. Five non voting.
170: Deaths and serious injuries to drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians between 2011 and 2023, according to the LA Times for 10-27-23
206: Number of American communities with speed camera programs. In 21 states plus DC. According to www.iihs.org/
$367: The fine for exceeding the posted speed limit by 16 - 25 MPH according to California Vehicle Code 22350. Also one DMV point on your license.
$490: Fine for exceeding the posted speed limit by 25 MPH or over according to California Vehicle Code 22350. Also one point from the DMV.
400: Accidents per year along PCH according to 21 Miles in Malibu
488: Speed cameras in Morocco per scdb.info
1,224: Speed cameras in Austria per scdb.info.
1,552: Speed cameras in Spain per scdb.info
1,672: Plugging “Malibu” into SWITRS Transportation Injury Mapping System, from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2022, there were 1,672 crashes, with 49 killed and 2,447 injured. 1395 (83.4%) were on a state highway. 118 pedestrians, 116 bikes and 261 motorcycles involved.
1,680: Citations for red lights/speeding issued in Marion, Iowa from September to October 2023 - a test case/model for Malibu
$0: Cost to the City of Marion to install speed cameras. The cameras are installed by a Swedish company - Sensys Gato - who take a cut if the citation revenue.
2: Red light/speed cameras at the intersection of state highways and local roads.
1: Mobile camera, used where needed, with the public alerted.
1142: Citations for running red lights from two stationary cameras
538: Citations for excess speed from two stationary cameras
$50: Fine for 5 to 10 MPH over speed limit
$75: Fine for 11 to 20 MPH over speed limit
$100: Fine for 21 to 25 MPH over speed limit
$250: Fine for 26 to 30 MPH over speed limit
$500: Fine for 31 MPH or more over speed limit
$100: Fine for running a red light
86 MPH: Fastest speed recorded in a 55 MPH zone..
120: Repeat violators in one month.
15: Three-time violators in one month
4: Four-time violators in one month.
1: Person received six violations within a month
$141,100: Minimum revenue from two fixed speed/red light cameras for one month = (1142 x $100) + (538 x $50)
1894: The science fiction novel A Journey in Other Worlds set in the year 2000 includes a description of "instantaneous kodaks" used by police to enforce speed limits.
1905: Popular Mechanics reported on a patent for a "Time Recording Camera for Trapping Motorists."
1929: On June 29, the Malibu segment of the Roosevelt Highway completes a highway from Canada to Mexico. California Governor C.C. Young cut the ceremonial ribbon helped by flanked by Miss Mexico and Miss Canada, allowing a parade of 1,500 cars to experience 21 Miles of Scenic Beauty.
1942: Beginning in May of 1942, wartime “dim out” laws imposed by Southern California civil defense prohibited driving on PCH through Malibu with headlights on. There were injuries and deaths until the dim out laws were repealed for Halloween of 1943.
1942: Driving under “dim out” laws on June 21, John P. Underwood drove off the road - possibly near Rincon - got stuck, wandered onto PCH and was struck by Esther Dominguez, the daughter of an LAPD lieutenant who was sneaking off to visit her secret husband in Santa Barbara. Underwood was killed instantly in a hit and run. Dominguez was acquitted on one misdemeanor hit-and-run count and was never charged with negligent homicide.
1985: Writer of Romancing the Stone Diane Thomas is killed in a Porsche driven by her boyfriend at Zuma Beach.
1986/1987: The first speed camera systems in the US were in Friendswood, Texas in 1986 and La Marque Texas in 1987. Neither program lasted more than a few months before public pressure forced them to be dropped.
1992: Possibly suffering a stroke, actor Ben Vereen seriously injured when he is struck by David Foster at 2:00 AM on PCH.
2010: On April 3, 13-year-old Emily Shane was killed by an erratic, disturbed Sina Khankhanian, 28, seen traveling at 70 MPH before he struck her near PCH and Heathercliff Road.
2014: In The People vs. Goldsmith, the California Supreme court affirmed the Second District Court of Appeal ruled that red light camera enforcement photographs, video, and data imprinted on them were not hearsay. In March of 2009, Carmen Goldsmith was cited for failing to stop at a red traffic light at an intersection located in the City of Inglewood in violation of Vehicle Code section 21453. She was found guilty of the traffic infraction based on evidence of several photographs and a 12 second video. Goldsmith argued that Automated Traffic Enforcement Systems (ATES) were not legal, but her argument failed.
2019: The Texas Legislature passes a law banning the use of photographic traffic enforcement systems.
2019: On September 27, 76-year-old Ronald Fuote of Calabasas killed by an eastbound Mini Cooper while attempting to run across PCH at night.
10/13/2023: AB-645 approved by Governor Newsom.
2,183: Speed cameras in the United Arab Emirates per scdb.info
2,440: Speed cameras in Sweden per scdb.info
3,000: Citations for speeding along PCH since 2019 - LASD
3,696: Speed cameras in the United States per scdb.info
4,000: Collisions along PCH in Malibu from 2013 - 2023. Primary causes speeding and improper turns. According to CalTrans.
4,013: Speed cameras in the United Kingdom per scdb.info (Statista says 7,722 as of 9/23)
4,770: Speed cameras installed in America - and 3342 Red Light Camera intersections - as of 10-25-2023 according to poi-factory.com
6,183: Citations issued along PCH since 2019 - LASD.
8,008: Speed cameras in Italy per scdb.info (Statista says 11,098 as of 9/23)
13,129: Speed cameras in Brazil per scdb.info
13,232: Speed cameras in the Russian Federation per scdb.info (Statista says 18,413 by 9/23)
18,000: Vehicles per day average daily traffic levels (ADTL) at PCH and Decker Canyon (Caltrans 1990)
47,000: vehicles per day (ADTL) at Las Flores Canyon Road (CalTrans 1990)
52,000: Vehicles per day (ADTL) at Cross Creek Road (CalTrans 1990)
56,000: vehicles per day (ADTL) at Topanga Canyon and PCG (Caltrans 1990)
57,000: vehicles per day (ADTL) at PCH and Cross Creek Road (Caltrans 1990).
$414000 - $464000: Total cost per speed camera from one American manufacturer.
$9,000: One time fee for connection and SIM card.
$10,000: Per site cost for permits trenching and Pole installation for electricity for speed cameras.
$45,000: Cost to lease a speed camera per year.
$150,000 - $200,000: One-time fee for site software for processing.
$200,000: Cost of a speed camera.
$4,000,000 - $8,000,000: Bail for Fraser Bohm after his re-arrest for murder in the deaths of the four Pepperdine students.
$8,000,000: City of Malibu funds funds obligated towards future PCH safety improvement projects - per malibucity.org
$15,000,000: Cost of contract with the LA County Sheriff’s Department from the General Fund of $16.4 million dedicated to public safety - per malibucity.org
$39,000,000: City of Malibu money spent on traffic safety improvements on PCH - per malibucity.org
$59,200,000 to $96,000,000: Increase in speed/red light/bus lane camera revenue in New York City from FY 2012 to FY 2015.