Highway Patrol Sets Its ‘Cites’ on Malibu Mountain Road Safety

• Area Commander Forms Specialized Team to End Traffic Woes on the ‘Malibu Le Mans’

BY ANNE SOBLE

The Jabel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates may rank higher, as does the Nürburgring Nordschleife (The Ring) in Germany, but for many aficionados of the cult of the speedometer, there are few American roads that are designed for canyon runs like Mulholland Highway as it wends its way through the Santa Monica Mountains to the beach at Leo Carrillo State Park.

The so-called canyon carvers, those who drive down mountain roads as fast as they can for the pleasure of it, extol Mulholland’s speedometer quotient on motorcycle and racing Internet sites with adjectives usually reserved for more intimate activities. It’s the Malibu version of the now outlawed Targa Florio.

But if the California Highway Patrol West Valley Area crew has its way, the days of local road rapture are drawing to a close. The new WVA commander has gone on record as implementing a zero tolerance policy with regard to speeding, illegal passing and other traffic violations.

Captain Stephen Webb said, “We are not going to stand for people endangering other people’s lives...and are going to apply the resources to make sure everyone clearly understands that ‘Operation Safe Canyons’ is not just rhetoric.”

Webb, a 23-year CHP veteran, who has garnered media attention for his ticket-writing prowess over the years, has been at West Valley for less than three months, but many residents say he has responded to concerns about canyon road safety to a greater degree than his predecessors.

Last Sunday, in the first of what are expected to be ongoing traffic watches in the Malibu mountains, Webb and a team of motorcycle and vehicle personnel, supported by the CHP helicopter, wrote about 75 citations. These were primarily for speeding, but included exhaust noise violations and a host of other road safety offenses.

Webb said drivers are bombarded by high-end (and not so high-end) automotive advertising that promotes speed over safety. It shows. He said that so far this year, there have been more than 60 major traffic accidents and two fatalities in the immediate vicinty.

Now, an infusion of federal, state and county dollars are expected to contribute to an increased effort, prompted by vociferous citizen protest in the Malibu Surfside News and other media.

Operation Safe Canyons includes the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in areas under its jurisdiction and has been strongly endorsed by all local elected officials.

But many residents report that the program has never been as proactive as it was last weekend.
SETTING SIGHTS—CHP Officer Christopher Swanberg focuses a handheld LIDAR unit on a stretch of roadway. LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, uses laser energy to measure speed with even greater accuracy than radar.
ZERO TOLERANCE—Captain Stephen Webb (far right) goes over strategy with the special Operation Safe Canyons enforcement team on Sunday. Webb says the California Highway Patrol will have a strong ground and air presence at different times and different locations in the Santa Monica Mountains every weekend from now through October.

IN FLAGRANTE—Lt. Andy James and Officer Joe Vach write up the driver of a Ferrari F430 for speeding. The Berlinetta was stopped on a part of the road that is completely covered with skidmarks left by exhibitionist drivers putting lives at risk