Traffic Light Urged Near Mobile Homes

Residents of a mobile home park are lobbying city officials to beef up safety standards on a nearby roadway in the wake of a collision that killed an elderly resident of the park and sent his wife to the hospital.

Fed up with what they say is inaction on the part of city traffic officials, residents of the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park urged the City Council on Wednesday to add a traffic light and reduce the speed limit on Pleasant Valley Road near their neighborhood.

The park is at the end of Via Rosal, which feeds onto the two-lane road. Residents say a combination of cars speeding on the 55-mph stretch and poor visibility makes it difficult to pull onto the thoroughfare.

“I don’t know how many times we’ve turned left, and whammo--there was a car there because you can’t see past that bridge,” said Bobbie Thomas, manager of the mobile home park. “They come right up behind you and zap right around you.”

Two weeks ago, Lamplighter resident Harold V. Westphal, 91, was killed after his car collided with an oncoming vehicle while leaving the park.

Westphal died at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. His wife Mildred, 98, was a passenger in the vehicle and was listed Thursday in stable condition at the hospital.

Camarillo Transportation and Traffic Engineer Tom Fox said that the city has conducted a traffic study in the area and that crews will start re-striping the road within two weeks. That will provide an extra lane in which cars can accelerate and merge with traffic.

Other suggestions made by mobile home park residents on Wednesday have been sent to the City Council’s transportation committee for further study.