Ghost Tire Placements Planned to Remember Those Killed on PCH
Every year, on the 3rd Sunday of November, organizations and individuals gather to commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. It is high profile global event to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families, and communities.
This day has also become an important tool to advocate and call for an end to the preventable epidemic of traffic violence in Southern California and across the US. This year, we call attention to one specific deadly road, Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and call for tangible and effective action by CalTrans to slow down and fix PCH.
On the evening of October 17, 2023, 20-year-old Niamh Rolston, 21-year-old Payton Stewart, 21-year-old Asha Weir, and 21-year-old Deslyn Williams had just parked and were walking to a mixer at a home along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu known as Dead Man’s Curve.” At around 9 PM, Fraser Michael Bohm was driving at 104 MPH when he lost control of his vehicle, hitting multiple parked cars before hitting and killing all four women, and injuring two others. While Fraser Michael Bohm has since been charged with four counts of murder and four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, this doesn’t do anything to bring back the four individuals lost that day.
Any single loss of a loved one and community member due to a preventable traffic collision is tragic. The loss of four in one incident is horrific, but these preventable collisions are made worse by the fact that the short stretch of PCH that travels through residential and business areas of Malibu has been known for decades as a dangerous road with vehicles regularly doing 60-80 MPH and sometimes well over 100 MPH.
Heatmap of crashes along PCH (2012-2022) showing the most dangerous sections, darkest red (Source: UC Berkley’s TIMS — Transportation Injury Mapping System)
Since 2010, there have been 58 fatalities (including the four young women just killed) and about 2,500 individuals injured. The single largest factor in these crashes is reckless speeding (Source: LA County Sheriff’s Department and TIMS). For decades, the community of Malibu, including various family members of those who have been killed and city officials, has asked CalTrans (the government agency responsible for PCH) to slow down PCH and re-engineer it. Little has been done.
In 2015, the California Office of Traffic Safety commissioned a study of PCH through Pacific Palisades and Malibu called the PCH Pedestrian Safety Project. In that report, there were 130 improvements recommended for the section of PCH in Malibu, including reducing the speed limit of PCH through the most densely populated areas. In the eight years since that report, Caltrans has implemented six of the recommendations (the City of Malibu has implemented additional recommendations with Caltrans approval), and none of the most effective recommendations have been accomplished. There is still a 45 MPH speed limit — too fast for road conditions through Malibu. Drivers still often drive 60+ MPH through this built-up, high-pedestrian area because there are few stop lights, and traffic calming measures are lacking.
“It’s been eight years since the 2015 safety recommendations were issued. Caltrans has done virtually nothing since then to reduce unsafe driving on PCH in Malibu. EIGHT YEARS! What else has Caltrans been doing over that time that is more important than stopping people being killed at this rate on such a short stretch of road?”
Tonight, Tuesday, November 14th, 2023, exactly four weeks after the four Pepperdine students were killed along PCH, the Fix PCH Action Team will place four Ghost Tires at a location in the center of Malibu for all to see.
The Ghost Tire Memorial was inspired by the Ghost Bike: a bicycle roadside memorial placed where a cyclist had been killed or severely injured by the driver of a motor vehicle. Ghost Tires are white-painted tires installed on the side of a road with the name and date of the person killed by a speeding driver. The road safety advocacy organization Streets Are For Everyone created the Ghost Tire campaign.
At the Ghost Tire Memorial, family members, community members, civic leaders, and members of Fix PCH (including SAFE) will remember and demand that Caltrans take immediate action to slow down PCH and fix it.
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims — Pacific Coast Highway: Sunday, November 19, 2023
This event is leading up to a larger scale event on World Day of Remembrance on Sunday, November 19th. The Malibu community will be coming together for a remembrance event for the 58 lives lost since 2010 when 13-year-old Emily Shane on the 21 miles of PCH, which runs through Malibu.
An art installation of 58 Ghost Tires will be placed commemorating those lives lost to tragic and unnecessary traffic violence on PCH with a call to action to the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to slow down PCH and fix it.
We invite you to attend this World Day of Remembrance event and add your voice to those who support traffic safety and effective change on PCH.
Date: Sunday, 19 November 2023
Location: Corner Lot on Pacific Coast Highway and Webb Way, near 23661 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu 90265
7 am to 9 am Set-up Time (for volunteers and event staff)
9 am to 10 am Ghost Tire Memorial Art Installation placement
10 am to 10:45 am Speaking portion with victims, family members, friends, advocates, and officials
11 am to 12 pm Gathering with the community to view the Art Installation, communicate, and collaborate for change in order to slow down PCH and fix it.
Parking: There is parking available on the property and on Civic Center Way. Please do not stop or attempt to park on PCH.
I hope all of you can join us. It’s time to #FixPCH
