Several key stretches of Southern California’s famous Pacific Coast Highway are getting much-needed safety upgrades by following San Francisco’s footsteps after years of close calls, crashes and fatalities.
In 2023, the wealthy coastal city of Malibu declared a local emergency over its 21-mile stretch of PCH weeks after a speeding driver killed four Pepperdine University students. Local officials said the breathtaking, largely pedestrian-unfriendly stretch, which often requires beachgoers to park and walk along the high-speed multi-lane road, had become a hotbed of “dangerous, illegal, reckless” driving in recent years. City data shows dozens of deaths along PCH since 2010, including seven fatalities and nearly 100 injuries in 2023 alone.
Over the years, the city has worked with county and state officials to devise a plan to slow down drivers and help save lives, and this fall, one of its biggest pieces will finally come into focus. Starting in September, speed cameras situated from Zuma Beach to the Malibu Pier and down to Carbon Beach are set to begin capturing data on drivers who exceed the posted speed limit. Those who exceed the speed limit by 11 mph or more between late September and late November will receive a warning; after that, speeders will be issued citations.
FILE: A sign bearing shorthand for Pacific Coast Highway. (Lee Walters/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
FILE: Traffic flows at 25 mph along a recently reopened Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on May 29, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)
The cameras, which Malibu officials call the Pacific Coast Highway Speed Safety System, will rely on lidar and other technology to assess speeds and capture images of the rear license plates of passing vehicles that are deemed to be traveling 11 mph or more over the posted speed limit. “We have seen unimaginable tragedy on Pacific Coast Highway caused by excessive speeding, and we must do everything we can to prevent future loss of life,” Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein said in a news release announcing the coming cameras.
Because the city of Malibu does not control the Pacific Coast Highway, the new speed camera system required action at the state level. In February 2024, state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, whose District 24 encompasses Malibu, authored Senate Bill 1297 as a pilot program for speed enforcement within the city; Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill in September of the same year.
Now, an hour south along the coastline, Long Beach is looking to do the same. California Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, of District 33 has authored Senate Bill 1279 that, like its similarly numbered Malibu counterpart, would allow the southern Los Angeles County city to operate speed cameras along its own 8-mile stretch of PCH. If signed by Gov. Newsom before Sept. 30, the bill would allow speed cameras to go up along one of the city’s deadliest driving corridors.
Pedestrians dart across the street in the rain near the Metro A Line at Pacific Coast Highway and Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)
There were 53 traffic deaths in 2025 in Long Beach, the highest number in more than a decade, and of the 192 fatalities since 2020, 39 were along PCH, the Signal Tribune reported.
If enacted, Long Beach’s program would also capture rear license plate imagery for drivers going at least 11 mph above posted speed limits. Fines would be tiered based on speed, starting at $50 for drivers going between 11 and 15 mph over the limit and escalating to $500 for drivers caught going 100 mph or more above the speed limit. Citations would begin in the winter, following a warning period.
And further south in Orange County, the city of Huntington Beach is preparing to help remake a long stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that has haunted cyclists for years. As part of Caltrans’ Complete Streets program, state officials are pouring more than $10 million to add bike lanes in both directions to a 10-mile stretch of PCH through Huntington Beach. The affected zone stretches from Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge to the north to the Santa Ana River outlet to the south.
Bicyclists on the Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. (Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The arrival of bike lanes can’t come soon enough. This spring, a 70-year-old cyclist was hit and killed by a 20-year-old driver while merging in traffic along PCH near Huntington State Beach, and in 2024, a cycling family in nearby Garden Grove was hit by a drunken driver who fled the scene. Five-year-old Jacob Ramirez later died from his injuries, and in 2025, driver Ceferino Ascencion Ramos was sentenced to over 16 years in state prison for the crash.
The Pacific Coast Highway runs between the beach and the city of Huntington Beach. (Trong Nguyen/Getty Images)
Orange County has been trying to grow its cycling infrastructure for years, working to add regional bikeways like the forthcoming one in Huntington Beach while also closing street-level gaps in coverage, adding bollards and dedicated bike lanes to important and often harrowing stretches of roadway. The updates come as Orange County grapples with a new generation of cyclists, many of them young and on electric bicycles and motorcycles, who have occasionally drawn the ire of local government amid a spike in injuries.
Huntington Beach’s new bike lanes are slated for completion in December 2026.
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This article originally published at Long Beach had 53 traffic deaths in 2025. Now it’s asking Gov. Newsom for help..