Community members gathered in Malibu Friday to protest in demand of safety improvements along the Pacific Coast Highway where four Pepperdine University students were struck and killed by a speeding car earlier this week.
During the demonstration at the intersection of PCH and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, protestors called for various improvements on the roadway, including speed cameras, lower speed limits and more active patrols by law enforcement.
Ted Vaill, a Malibu resident and one of the organizers of the protest, said he’s lived in the area for more than 50 years and has his own number of close calls.
A member of the Malibu community emergency response team and a volunteer with the Arson Watch program, Vaill says more needs to be done, especially increasing the law enforcement presence along the scenic and iconic roadway.
Michel Shane, a film producer who lost his daughter 13 years ago on the stretch of PCH, is frustrated and devastated once again.
“I felt the same way 13 years ago when Emily died,” Shane said. “I went okay I’m not taking this anymore. Two years later in 2012 when I started putting this documentary together, it came to me that things had to change and I thought that it would happen. Here we are 10 years later and it’s the same scenario, the same discussion, it’s just different actors involved.”
Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams died Tuesday evening when authorities say a speeding driver hit them on PCH roughly four miles east of the school.
On Thursday, the Pepperdine community mourned the loss of the four women, all of whom were seniors at the Seaver College of Liberal Arts.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, 22-year-old Fraser Bohm was speeding in a dark grey BMW sedan westbound on the PCH when he lost control and swerved toward the shoulder of the road, striking parked vehicles and the group of young women.
The students were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were hospitalized with various injuries. Bohm is currently out of police custody as the investigation progresses.
The wreck happened on a stretch of road known to locals as “Dead Man’s Curve.”