MALIBU, CALIFORNIA: "Dead Man's Curve" is a term often used in the US as a nickname to define a curve in a road that has claimed human lives as a result of numerous crashes.
The latest spot to have earned that ignominious moniker is the stretch of road where four Pepperdine University sorority sisters, Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams, were killed after 22-year-old Fraser Bohm went out-of-control while driving his BMW and fatally struck the group.
Following the tragedy, Malibu residents told NBCLA that the dangerous stretch of road has long been known to locals as "Dead Man's Curve" due to the frequent crashes that take place in the area.
The latest incident reportedly took place at the 21600 block of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), near La Costa Beach and east of the Malibu Pier, around 8:30 pm on Tuesday, October 17.
The Pepperdine University students were reportedly walking along the PCH before an allegedly speeding Bohm lost control of his car and hit three parked vehicles before striking the group of four.
Bohm was reportedly charged with vehicular manslaughter and gross negligence before being released from custody.
Malibu's 'Dead Man's Curve' has witnessed several incidents in the past
More than a decade before the latest PCH incident claimed the lives of the four Pepperdine University sorority sisters, 13-year-old Emily Shane's tragic death made numerous headlines.
The teenager was walking along the same stretch to meet her father after a sleepover at a friend’s home on April 3, 2010, when Sina Khankhanian drove his car for 17 miles, speeding up to 70 mph on the PCH before hitting and killing Emily.
Emily's incident inspired the feature documentary '21 Miles in Malibu,' produced by her father, Michael Shane.
The documentary highlighted the frequent fatalaties on the PCH, and explored how the 21-mile road running alongside the stunning coast of California is "one of the most deadly stretches of asphalt on Earth."
A new sign at the intersection of Heathercliff Road and Pacific Coast Highway, where Emily was struck and killed, now reads as "Emily Shane Way."
In a recent incident, 42-year-old Javier Carrillo died following a three-vehicle crash near Dear Creek Road north of Neptune's Net restaurant on PCH, on May 2020.
According California Highway Patrol, at the time Carrillo was reportedly driving a 2005 International box truck southbound behind a a 2002 Ford flatbed construction truck, also traveling south.
The Ford, driven by a 61-year-old Thousand Oaks man, slowed down to take a left onto Deer Creek but Carrillo failed to slow down and rear-ended the Ford truck, as per VC Star.
Carrillo's vehicle pushed the Ford it into a northbound lane, which then hit an oncoming 2011 Subaru driven by a 76-year-old man from Redondo Beach. The former was pronounced dead on the spot.
The same year, another man died on the spot when his motorcycle collided with a vehicle on Malibu's PCH, My News LA reported.
The crash took place at the El Matador State Beach, according to a report by Lt Greg Evans of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Malibu-Lost Hills Station.
Erik Berg, a foreman working on a PCH house reportedly died on September 17, 2021, after getting struck by a car when he tried to cross the highway around the 22000 block, Pepperdine Graphic reported.
According to the Malibu Times, five people were killed in a fiery crash after a head on collision on Pacific Coast Highway just outside Malibu on November 2022.
As per data from University of California Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System, at least 37 vulnerable road users, an official term used for bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, died in the Malibu area between 2016 and 2021.
Majority of incidents in Malibu's 'Dead Man's Curve' involve speeding drivers
Following the death of the four Pepperdine University students, a local woman told KTLA that the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway was named the "Dead Man’s Curve" due to frequent accidents it witnesses every year, the majority of which involve speeding drivers.
"Every six months there’s another accident. There was one three months ago, there was one four months ago, and they are all within these five to six houses," the woman said.
The local resident also shared that she believes that the only way to stop the crashes is to modify the road physically or to lower the speed limit.
"They need to put flashers up… or put some road bumps, or lower it down to 35 miles per hou. Because nobody goes 45, everybody goes 55," she said.
Sheriff’s Department Captain Jennifer Seeto also echoed the sentiment saying, "There are too many people on this stretch of highway that have been killed."
"We are working with the community… to make sure that people are educated about the dangers of PCH, and to slow down," the captain added.
Malibu resident Joan Zoloth also said that the "Dead Man's Curve" has a notorious reputation for drag racing, the Daily Mail reported.
"Since Covid, there has been an increase of incredible racing up and down this highway," Zoloth shared.
"(It is) all night long, enough that you can hear it over the waves, and we live on the beach side," she continued, adding, "It's non-stop."
Zoloth also claimed that several people residing in the area have also complained about "drag racing" along the stretch of road.
Los Angeles County Fire Captain Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh also considered speed a factor that likely contributed to the tragic deaths of the four sorority sisters.
"It’s tough. Everybody picks up their speed… this is a very heavily populated pedestrian area, so it’s one of those scary things where it’s like 'Hey people, slow down,'" Kelliher-Berkoh noted.
