Grief-Stricken Families Call for Action at Pacific Coast Highway ‘Dead Man’s Curve’

At least 17 fatal accidents have occurred since 2015, on a 21-mile stretch of highway

Clockwise from top left: Deslyn Williams, Peyton Stewart, Niamh Rolston, Asha Weir.Linkedin; Facebook

Article from The Messenger: https://themessenger.com/news/call-for-action-at-pacific-coast-highway-dead-mans-curve-after-deaths-of-four-pepperdine-students

A petition to improve the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) has garnered more than 4,000 signatures after four Pepperdine students were killed in a car accident while standing outside their sorority house.

A driver crashed into three parked cars outside a sorority house, resulting in the deaths of Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams, on October 17.

For years prior to the fatal accident, citizens have advocated for changes on the highway, where at least 17 fatal accidents have occurred since 2015, according to filmmakers of “21 Miles in Malibu,” a documentary about the PCH.

Data from the state of California indicates that deaths and severe injuries have increased on the highway in the last five years, according to KABC.

“The truth is PCH is designed to be dangerous, with cars allowed to park next to wide, high-speed roads, pedestrians walking without sidewalks, and cyclists riding alongside these fast-moving vehicles without protection,” the petition reads.

“To access the beaches, pedestrians run across PCH with no other safe way to cross.”

Michel Shane, the petition’s author, lost his 13-year-old daughter Emily, in a car accident on the PCH, in 2010. Like the Pepperdine students, She was a pedestrian who was struck and killed by a driver.