As a national traffic safety report reveals that 112 people are killed on American roadways every day, Malibu is moving forward with more than $50 million in safety improvements to Pacific Coast Highway, where speeding and inadequate infrastructure have contributed to numerous fatal crashes.
The Malibu City Council approved a comprehensive safety project that will install 19 new guardrails, 6,956 linear feet of new sidewalks, 9.7 miles of bike lanes and 27 new light poles along 16 miles of PCH. The approval comes as Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety released its 2026 Roadmap to Safety report, which found that most states receive mediocre grades on traffic safety and need to adopt proven countermeasures to prevent deaths and injuries.
"The Roadmap to Safety is a call to action for our elected officials to address the ongoing crisis of motor vehicle crashes," said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "With traffic fatalities 26% higher than their historic low point in 2011, and injuries 10% higher, state lawmakers and Congress must prioritize improving the safety of road users."
In 2023, 40,901 people were killed in crashes nationwide and an additional 2.44 million were injured, according to finalized statistics. Preliminary numbers for 2024 remain historically high.
The Malibu project gained urgency following the deaths of four Pepperdine University students who were struck while standing on a sidewalk. Councilmember Doug Stewart referenced the tragedy during discussion of the safety improvements.
"It's not about just speeding on PCH. We have pedestrians that are in harm's way," Stewart said. "We've got to get them off the street and out of harm's way. And if you look at the tragic accident with Pepperdine women, they were actually standing behind cars, and they still got hit."
The national report evaluates states on six safety categories and assigns overall grades of green, yellow or red. Only five states and Washington, D.C., received the highest green rating, while nine states earned red ratings for lagging dangerously behind in adopting recommended laws. The remaining 36 states received yellow or caution ratings.
Vickie Brown of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, whose son Darius was killed by a drunk driver, said the report provides states with a clear path forward.
"This report card gives every state a clear roadmap to fill dangerous gaps in their traffic safety laws," Brown said. "Drunk driving crashes are 100% preventable, and these road-tested laws will save many lives."
The report found that no state has enacted all 18 of the organization's optimal countermeasures. Based on its safety recommendations, states across the nation need to adopt 534 countermeasures, including improvements to seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet requirements, child passenger safety measures, graduated driver licensing programs and automated enforcement systems.
Malibu's project addresses several areas identified in the national report. The city council also approved an additional $1.6 million for enhanced safety measures, including innovative speed detection technology that will adapt signal timing to create more red lights when speeding is detected, and infrastructure for a five-location speed enforcement camera system.
The national report notes that 27 states need to permit red light cameras by law and 21 states need to permit automated speed enforcement. Currently, 28 states do not have red light cameras in use and 25 states do not have automated speed enforcement in use.
Councilmember Steve Uhring, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the PCH project, expressed frustration that the improvements don't adequately address speeding, which he called the primary cause of fatalities on the highway.
"Speeding is the number one cause of death on PCH, number one cause has been all along," Uhring said. "I spent $55 million and I'd like to see something happen on PCH, which at least starts to slow down the traffic, because that's what's killing people."
Chris Olson, chief of police at the University of Arizona and a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, emphasized that proven solutions exist to reduce fatalities and injuries.
"The solutions outlined in this report are proven to reduce the risk of fatalities and injuries," Olson said. "We must get going on them."
The Malibu project will also realign two intersections, install 22 upgraded curb ramps, construct three retaining walls and create a law enforcement pullout area. The California Department of Transportation is funding the improvements, which represent phase one of a two-phase pavement rehabilitation plan for the coastal highway.