MALIBU – Senator Ben Allen (D-Malibu) celebrated the Governor’s signing of SB 1297 today to bring overdue speeding enforcement tools to the City of Malibu’s stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

“The signing of SB 1297 today is a huge win for the safety of Malibu visitors and residents,” said Senator Allen. “The iconic Pacific Coast Highway is a beautiful but exceedingly dangerous stretch of road that needs thoughtful investments and improvements to save lives. I’m grateful that my colleagues and the Governor saw the proven track record speed cameras have to slow down traffic and agreed to let the City utilize these tools to better the lives of motorists and pedestrians in the region.”

The wide 21-mile stretch of PCH that runs through Malibu has posed significant and unique traffic hazards as the city has grown. The beautiful highway passes by popular beaches and commercial establishments, but provides few sidewalks or separated bike lanes, parking options, and safe pedestrian crossings. These risky conditions contributed to 134 car accidents that resulted in a fatality or serious injury (FSI) from 2019-2023 – the most amount of FSI crashes among cities with a similar population.

On November 13, 2023, the City of Malibu declared a Local Emergency “aimed at addressing the risks to public safety of dangerous, illegal, reckless, and/or distracted driving on Pacific Coast Highway in the City.” This helped bring attention to the unsafe conditions that consistently leave Malibu roads ranked among the most dangerous in the state. On May 8, 2024, Caltrans announced the Malibu Makeover project as part of an effort to provide over $50 million in State and City investments for safety improvements to Malibu’s PCH infrastructure.

As part of this broader traffic safety improvement effort, SB 1297 builds on a pilot program established last year to authorize the City to install speed cameras at five locations to help enforce speed limits. The National Transportation Safety Board, Centers for Disease Control, and the Federal Highway Administration all recommend using speed cameras because of their demonstrated success to slow traffic down. In 2020, New York City installed a speed camera in each of their 750 school zones. One year later, encouraging reports showed that speeding fell at these locations by an average of 73 percent.

SB 1297 will take effect on January 1, 2025.

Ben Allen represents the 24th State Senate District, which consists of the Westside, Hollywood, coastal South Bay, and Santa Monica Mountains communities of Los Angeles County.