Written by Jason Kravarik | CNN
Malibu – Bridget Thompson says she should die.
If not for a late cheerleading squad meeting on a Tuesday night in October, the Pepperdine University student would have gone with her four best friends — three of whom were her roommates — headed to an off-campus party.
“I should have been there and I usually would have been there,” Thompson said. “I can just imagine them in the car on the way there. I know they were listening to the music and I know they were singing along.”
The girls were parked and were walking along Pacific Coast Highway when prosecutors said a BMW traveling at 104 mph slammed into several parked cars before striking and killing Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Ware and Deslyn Williams — all Pepperdine seniors.
Thompson was on her way to meet the girls when a friend texted that they couldn’t be found.
“I couldn’t get past where the police were,” Thompson said. “I stood there until 3 a.m. that night just calling any hospital.”
The next morning, an email from the school confirmed the news that “literally crushed my world,” she said. “It feels like four huge holes in my heart.”
Deslin was Thompson’s “first friend” at Pepperdine. Niamh “was like my other half”; Asha was “wise beyond her years”; Thompson told CNN that Peyton was “the most selfless person I’ve ever met.” “I cry all day long… I feel really lonely because it’s just me,” she said. “But I’m grateful that I can be here to make a difference for them.”
Thompson is now among those demanding safety changes along Malibu’s popular Pacific Coast Highway. She helped dedicate a memorial on the scenic highway, which runs along the California coast, featuring 58 white tires – one for each person who has lost their life on the road in Malibu since 2010.
“If change doesn’t happen, personally, I will feel unheard,” Thompson said. “And I will feel like (my friends) are invisible and undervalued.”
She’s not alone. In that roadside memorial to the victims, Emily Sheen is the first frame. Her family wonders why 57 others have died since then.
“Dead Man’s Curve”
Located on a 21-mile stretch of coastline between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Malibu attracts tourists and celebrities alike. Some of the biggest names in Hollywood, from Beyoncé and Lady Gaga to Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Roberts, own homes there. Its sparkling beaches and world-famous coastline have swelled the beach town of about 10,000 people into a bustling tourist mecca visited by millions of people annually.
The PCH, also known as US 1, is not only Malibu’s main artery, it is one of the only roads through the city.
“It’s Main Street plus beach parking,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Jennifer Seto, who oversees the Malibu area. “It’s a walkway, and you literally have people going 100 miles an hour.”
A section of the highway near where the Pepperdine students were killed was even dubbed “Dead Man’s Curve.”
“The fact that the name of the movie is called Dead Man’s Curve and we’re not mad about that is ridiculous,” said Michele Sheen, a Malibu resident and producer of such hit films as “Catch Me if You Can” and “I, Robot.”
Shane’s 13-year-old daughter, Emily, was killed in 2010 along PCH while waiting for her father to pick her up from a sleepover.
“A car passed me, split lanes, and entered oncoming traffic,” Shane recalls of his short trip to the meeting point. “I said, ‘Boy, this guy is crazy.’”
Several 911 callers had already alerted deputies to the out-of-control driver. When Shin arrived to pick her up, authorities sealed off the area.
Emily was hit with such force that she went airborne, hit a pole and continued over the fence that lined the road.
“Maybe about 10 or 15 minutes later they came out and told me she was dead,” Shane recalled. “I often say that I was one person on April 3rd at 5:59 and I was another person at six.”
Sheen hoped his daughter’s death would bring about immediate and significant change—such as turning the highway into a slow street with medians and sidewalks. This did not happen.
“My daughter didn’t graduate. She’ll be 26,” Shane said. “She doesn’t have a career, she doesn’t have a husband, she doesn’t have friends. What do we know now about what exactly happened to her?
He combined his grief and anger with his professional career, producing the documentary “21 Miles in Malibu” in hopes of spreading awareness and education about the dangers of PCH.
Sheen is working to show the documentary in schools to change the culture around speed and fast cars, which he believes has become glamorized in popular culture. As with the progress made regarding seat belts and drink driving, Sheen hopes speeding will become just as stigmatized.
“People still drank and drove, but then the Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign started… and suddenly drinking and driving became really taboo,” Shane said. “(Speed) should happen the same way.”
Since Emily’s death, a PCH task force of residents and community leaders has been formed. But there were still 57 other people who died, including the four Pepperdine students.
“It’s just a matter of time” before the next death, Shane said. “We can’t move fast enough to do what needs to be done.”
But we’ve been through this stage before, admitted Seto, the sheriff’s captain. She points to nine pedestrians who died in 2021 alone.
The crowd “was not shaken because six of them were homeless,” Seto said, adding that the department distributed reflective strips for homeless people to wear at night.
“We don’t want them to die in vain.”
The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, controls the state highway. Caltrans said in a statement to CNN that it has synchronized the lights and is in the middle of a traffic safety study to consider changes to the road, including bike lanes and updating pedestrian access.
But some, like Shane, want to do more to slow down the highway and discourage speeding.
Caltrans said it must first conduct a speed zone survey, which it plans to do within six months, to determine whether speeds can be lowered under state laws that allow adjustments in pedestrian-congested areas.
The speed limit in Malibu is 45, but speeding is common, Seto said. Of the 3,345 collisions in the past 10 years, county data shows the most common cause of crashes was excessive speed, accounting for 865 crashes.
Cito, who responded to the incident that killed Pepperdine students, said staffing shortages are one factor that made enforcement difficult. She wants to see speed cameras installed and believes the four students would be alive if they were.
“I will never forget looking into those parents’ eyes. This was the worst day of my career,” she said. “What if we pushed harder? What if we had those speed cameras? I don’t know if that would have happened.”
The intersection where Emily died was renamed “Emily Sheen Road” in her honor.
“Because Emily Shen road “She’s kind, she’s good to others,” said Ellen Sheen, Emily’s mother. She started a foundation in her daughter’s honor that pairs college students with younger children who need mentors or teachers.
“I had to do something to keep her memory alive, and I had to help others because that’s what she was known for,” Shane said.
Bridget Thompson wants her lost friends’ legacy to be a change in the highway. Graduating next year will be difficult, she said, but it “gives me strength.” “I just don’t want them to die in vain.”
Seetoo is optimistic they won’t “if we come together as a community.”
Meanwhile, a pile of white frames sits outside her office door, waiting to be added to the roadside memorial.
CNN Wire
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The tragic deaths of four college students on a broken Malibu freeway have shaken the local community and raised concerns about the safety of the road. The students, who were in the prime of their lives and pursuing their dreams, were involved in a devastating accident that has left their families and friends in mourning. As authorities work to investigate the cause of the accident, it serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of maintaining and repairing our infrastructure to prevent further tragedies. The loss of these young lives is a stark reminder of the need for action to ensure the safety of our roads for all who use them.