Editorial: Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu is a deathtrap. Caltrans needs to radically rethink it

An overhead view of a road between rows of houses next to the ocean.

Oct. 31, 2023 2:12 PM PT

How many more people will die on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu before California transportation officials get serious about making the 21-mile stretch of road safer?

PCH may be the state’s iconic scenic coastal highway, but in Malibu, it’s a main street. The route has become increasingly dangerous to residents, visitors and commuters, with speeding drivers killing and maiming more people and traumatizing the community.

There’s renewed attention and momentum for big fixes for PCH after four Pepperdine students were killed last month when a speeding driver plowed his BMW into them as they stood near parked cars on the side of the road. But this horrific crash is only the latest in a decades-long history of deadly and devastating collisions on the highway.

While state and local officials can and should take immediate action to make the road safer, such as putting in more traffic lights and getting permission to install automated speed enforcement cameras, it’s also time to rethink the configuration of PCH through Malibu. It’s a state highway that runs through the middle of the community. The road now caters to commuters and pass-through traffic. It could be redesigned to function as a local road with more sidewalks, traffic signals, bike lanes and crosswalks that force motorists to slow down and drive as though they’re in a city — because they are.

A road redesign won’t be easy. Sections of PCH through Malibu are squeezed between mountains and the ocean, leaving little room to add sidewalks or protected bike lanes without removing a traffic lane or parking or buying expensive property for widening. And it certainly wouldn’t be without controversy, given how many people rely on PCH for different needs. It’s a commuting route, a residential neighborhood, a business district and a destination for beachgoers.

Still, it should be clear that incremental improvements — a traffic signal here and flashing crosswalk beacon there — aren’t doing enough to change dangerous driver behavior.

Serious crashes have become more common, according to a Times analysis, despite safety investments over the last decade by Malibu and Caltrans, which is responsible for the maintenance of PCH. Data show 170 deaths and serious injuries to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians between 2011 and 2023.

The numbers rose every year from 2018 through 2022, when 25 people were killed or seriously injured. Malibu has considerably more deaths and serious injuries than other beach cities where PCH also runs through, Times reporters Terry Castleman and Karen Garcia reported.

Malibu officials and residents are pressing for short-term fixes that could help deter dangerous drivers, including lower speed limits, speed cameras, and traffic enforcement by the California Highway Patrol, which doesn’t currently patrol PCH in Malibu. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 645 into law, allowing Los Angeles and five other cities to try automated speed cameras to catch and ticket motorists who egregiously exceed the speed limit. Malibu was not included, and legislators should act quickly to expand the law to include PCH.

These are reasonable first steps, but they should the beginning of a larger conversation about making PCH safer.

“Are we going to upset some people? Sure. Are we going to slow the commute? Sure,” Malibu Mayor Steve Uhring said. “If in the long run, doing some of those steps can make it safer, so people are not getting killed on PCH, we’d be remiss if we didn’t do them.”

It won’t be fast or easy, but rethinking PCH could make Malibu a much safer community.