There isn’t one tool that will fix the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).
The City of Malibu has taken strides with progress made on the traffic synchronization project that is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year and the signage of SB 1297 bill by Gov. Gavin Newsom. This bill grants Malibu permission to install five speed cameras along PCH, according to the city’s website. It’s a start, but there’s still an overwhelming feeling that there’s still so much to be done.
“And I don’t know that any one thing is going to be the key to unlock the door for that,” Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart said.
Traffic Synchronization Project
The undergroundings that will make up the traffic synchronization project, are expected to be completed in December, Councilmember Paul Grisanti said.
The city is looking into replacing metal standard poles with new ones, Grisanti said.
The standards are the metal poles seen arching over the traffic lights that allow the fiber-optic cables to run through the lights, Grisanti said.
The traffic lights will get cameras monitored by CalTrans. The new system will include timers with the ability to be monitored from a distance. The traffic lights will no longer require service workers to come out every time there is an issue with the timer, Grisanti said.
With the new traffic synchronization system, the lights will be set on a timer for a specific speed, Grisanti said.
“It just means that you’re going to get to the next light, and it’s going to be red for a while” Grisanti said. “While everybody you passed is going to catch up to you.”
It’s taken seven years since the city applied for the traffic synchronization project to be approved by CalTrans, Stewart said.
“It’s a multi-tool toolbox,” Stewart said about the traffic synchronization project and the speeding camera bill passed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
It’s taken years despite the city providing the funding, Stewart said.
SB1297 Bill Permitting Usage of Speed Cameras
Newsom signed into order SB 1297 allowing Malibu the usage of five speeding cameras Sept. 27, according to the City of Malibu website.
“I think my eyes welled up in tears when I heard that it passed,” Captain Jennifer Seetoo, of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department. “Just true excitement.”
The bill contains quite a few hurdles that the city is working to comply with, but it’s going to take time, Stewart said.
It takes time to get permits and proposals for the cameras, Stewart said. The city is moving as quickly as possible sending out their first request for proposals last week.
“And it’s not that we don’t have the money,” Stewart said. “We’ve got the money allocated for the initial work.”
In the next 30 to 60 days, the city will be receiving proposals from companies to sign a contract with, Grisanti said. The money has already been set aside by the council for the cameras, but they will likely need to hold a special council meeting once there is a contract they are serious about signing, Grisanti said.
“We are further actually further along in the process than the people who were authorized to do this in the original legislation,” Grisanti said.
Realistically, Stewart said he believes the cameras will be implemented in the second or third quarter of next year.
Some of the capabilities Grisanti said the council is looking for in the new cameras is license plate readers and a 360-degree view. This wouldn’t just be helpful in identifying speeders but criminals passing through Malibu, Grisanti said. Beverly Hills has already implemented these license plate reader cameras on their streets and have been able to stop criminals, Grisanti said.
Cameras with the 360-degree angle would be able to read cars in northbound and southbound lanes, Grisanti said.
“The objective is to get people to obey the law,” Grisanti said. “It’s not to crank out more tickets.”
With the implementation of speeding cameras will come sign postage communicating to drivers that they are entering a city monitored by photo radars.
“If people get used to the idea that if they’re coming to Malibu, they’d better mind their p’s and cues, maybe they will actually do so,” Grisanti said.
Seetoo said the city’s sign postage communicating an approaching speed camera is comparable to an officer pulling up behind a driver. It will automatically get people to check their speed, she said.
Seetoo and the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department are still catching people speeding over 108 mph, Seetoo said.
“We got to solve the problem,” Seetoo said. “We’d love for a speed camera at every intersection.”
What Can Be Done Now
The progress made is a step in the right direction, but there’s things we can be doing now, Seetoo said.
“Those two things [traffic synchronization and speed cameras] are not going to solve our problems,” Seetoo said. “We still need to do education, we still need to do engineering.”
Seetoo and the Lost Hills Sheriffs Department work closely with the Emily Shane Foundation, she said. Michel Shane lost his daughter Emily to a speeding driver on PCH in 2010. Seetoo speaks in local schools to students about PCH safety precautions and Seetoo is also approaching parents.
“I keep saying this but maybe not give your kids the keys to the Lamborghini,” Seetoo said.
There are now apps that allow parents to keep track of how fast their children are driving with apps such as Life 360, Drive Smart and TrueMotion Family Safe Driving.
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Contact Rachel Flynn via email: rachel.flynn@pepperdine.edu
