Malibu : ‘Drunk Bumps’ Urged

The leader of an area bicycle safety organization on Wednesday called for the placement of safety bumps along the side of Pacific Coast Highway to help prevent accidents, such as the one that killed Malibu triathlete Tracy Clarke.

The small divider bumps, also called “drunk bumps,” are designed to separate car and bicycle traffic along the shoulder of a road by alerting drivers that they are passing into bike lanes, said Pat Hines, executive director of the nonprofit group, Safe Moves.

“I’d bet you Tracy would be alive today if those bumps were there,” Hines said at a news conference. Hines said the bumps could be installed cheaply along the coastal highway from Santa Monica to Oxnard.

Clarke was killed July 29 by a car driven by a motorist who was later arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. She and friends were riding bicycles along the northbound shoulder of the coastal highway.

Hines said she became involved in bicycle safety programs after the death of her friend, Sue Latham, in a similar accident in 1981 on Pacific Coast Highway. Since then, she said, her repeated efforts to get the California Department of Transportation to post warning signs or take other precautions have failed.

“There are no warning signs or any indications at all that cyclists use that shoulder,” Hines said. “This is the second time a woman has been killed there, and Caltrans has done nothing.”

Gary Bork, chief of traffic operations for Caltrans in Los Angeles, said he was not aware of any request from Hines’ organization concerning warning signs or safety bumps, but he said the agency would look into the issue.