Letters to the Editor: It’s way too easy to get a driver’s license in California. PCH deaths show that

To the editor: Over the last year, I have read numerous articles about pedestrian and cyclist fatalities and serious accidents, most recently the tragic death of four college students walking on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Many of these articles refer to dangerous roads.

I think they have it wrong. The cause of all of these incidences is typically poor driving, not dangerous roads.

Recently, Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote about the serious inadequacy of the Department of Motor Vehicles’ written test. The DMV is failing us miserably by giving licenses far too easily to applicants.

This theory of mine is confirmed on my daily 15-minute drive to work, as I am surrounded by people at the wheel, looking only at their phones.

Bruce Gainsley, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: Calls for more “education and enforcement” should be a last resort and indicate road designs that have already failed.

Among developed countries, the U.S. is No. 1 in road death rate, more in line with former Soviet republics and three to four times higher than countries like Italy, Spain and France.

We can have safer, happier, more human-centric cities than the car-centric ones we’ve inherited by working with our local governments and organizations.

Edward Gonzales, La Crescenta

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To the editor: I wonder what might happen if people driving 30-50 mph over the speed limit stopped to realize that they are aiming a multi-ton lethal weapon that could kill or maim at innocent people.

Susan Greenberg, Los Angeles