Highway 118 Panel Gets Down to Business
The Highway 118 Safety Task Force met for the first time last week, to discuss ways to reduce accidents and fatalities on an 18-mile stretch of the highway.
The task force, headed by Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels and funded by a federal grant, includes representatives from local school districts, the city of Moorpark, law enforcement agencies, the state Department of Transportation and the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
“Our goal is to reduce recordable accidents [by] 25% by the end of 1999,” said Capt. Richard Owen of the California Highway Patrol.
Between 1994 and 1996, there were 581 accidents resulting in 16 deaths on the rural stretch of Highway 118, according to the CHP. The most recent death was in July, when the driver of a tractor-trailer died after colliding with an Amtrak train near a railroad crossing east of Hitch Boulevard.
The $89,368 grant that is funding the task force will also pay for additional law enforcement and education, according to Chris Murphy of the state’s Office of Traffic Safety, which distributes federal transportation grants throughout the state.
The CHP will receive $53,660, and the Moorpark station of the Sheriff’s Department will get $16,198, which will allow for additional enforcement. Owen said the increased enforcement will begin next month.
The remainder of the grant is earmarked to buy radar guns and educational materials, Murphy said, but the task force may use the money elsewhere.
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