The area of the seemingly idyllic Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, where four college students died in a horrific accident Tuesday night is a stretch of road so treacherous that it was the subject of a 2022 documentary, 21 Miles in Malibu .
PCH has been known as Blood Alley for years. The stretch where four female students lost their lives this week is known by locals as the Dead Man’s Curve because of the countless accidents that have occurred there over the years. There have been 49 fatal accidents on the highway in the past decade, including a 2015 crash between Caitlyn Jenner and victim Kim Howe.
Safety experts say that the large number of tourists that this beautiful place attracts and the lack of sidings on both sides of the road are responsible for the repeated accidents that occur there.
This week PCH was in the headlines again when a driver hit Pepperdine University students Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams. They were all pronounced dead at the scene.
A 22-year-old local man, Fraser Bohm, was taken into custody in connection with the tragedy. He is accused of driving through the area at high speed, losing control of his BMW and driving into a group of parked cars. The four students were walking in the area when they were struck.
The dangerous highway is so notorious that Michael Shane, who was behind blockbusters like “Catch Me if You Can” and “I, Robot,” produced a documentary about it last year called “21 Miles in Malibu.” In 2010, Shane’s daughter Emily, 13, tragically died on the road.
For years, locals have complained about the infrastructure and have known the Pacific Coast Highway as Blood Alley
Last shared memories: LR Asha Weir, Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart and Deslyn Williams are pictured sharing a meal with friends just weeks before the women were mowed down and killed
Fraser Michael Bohm, 22, was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter after four college students were mowed down and killed – but he was released from custody
Filmmaker Michel Shane (center) worked with director Nic Davis (right) for 21 Miles in Malibu. They are pictured with Shane’s wife Ellen (left), who also appears in the documentary
Shane made the film in honor of his daughter Emily, who was killed by a reckless driver in 2010. Pictured with her mother Ellen, right
After her tragic death, Michael Shane and his wife founded the Emily Shane Foundation
The documentary points out that despite countless studies and grim statistics regarding the PCH’s safety, the route’s infrastructure is still much as it was in the 1950s.
About 10,000 people live in Malibu, but tourists and day-trippers flood the area on weekends, adding to traffic chaos.
The man who killed Emily, Sina Khankhanian, admitted to targeting the teenager and expressed that she “deserved to die” while he was speeding on the highway. At the time, he was under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol.
At trial, his lawyers said he had also been diagnosed with autism. Khankhanian was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for involuntary manslaughter in 2012. He is expected to be released around Christmas 2023, the Malibu Times reports.
Shane, who crowdfunded $37,138 to produce the documentary through a Kickstarter page, said his goal was to make people “angry” about the lack of safety measures on the streets.
“This is not about box office sales, this is about making change,” he told in February.
“I’m not a politician, that’s not what I’m trying to do.” I’m just trying to make enough people angry to bring about change.
“Everyone knows how dangerous this part of the highway is. “Every few years there’s a big crash, there’s a new government and more research is published, but no one actually does anything to make it safer.”
21 Miles in Malibu highlighted the dangers and rising death toll in California’s “Blood Alley,” a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway that runs through the celebrity playground of Malibu. In 10 years, 49 people were killed in traffic
Niamh Ralston was one of four Pepperdine University students killed Tuesday night in Malibu when a BMW crashed into a parked car and then hit them. She was supposed to celebrate her 21st birthday next month
Asha Weir was also part of Alpha Phi at Pepperdine University – and was pronounced dead Tuesday night along with Peytong, Deslyn and Niamh
Peyton Stewart lived with Niamh and Asha during their last year of school together
Deslyn Williams, a Georgia native, is pictured vacationing in Cabo during spring break
The documentary claims that there are more than 400 collisions on the PCH strip every year and that there have been 17 fatalities and more than 633 injuries recorded there since 2015.
Shane addressed his daughter’s death on April 3, 2010, adding, “That day changed my life.”
“There was my life before, and there is my life after.”
Emily was on her way from her friend’s house to meet her father when she was struck by a vehicle on PCH on Heathercliff Road – which has since been named Emily Shane Way in her honor. She died instantly.
There are no cross streets on this section of the highway, although there are many pedestrian attractions, including bus stops and a shopping center.
Khankhanian, then 26, was reportedly distraught over losing his job and drove recklessly up the coast.
Sina Khankhanian was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after he drove recklessly into Emily Shane in 2010. He was said to be “disheartened” after losing his job
The highway strip is also known to be the scene of Caitlyn Jenner’s collision with victim Kim Howe in 2015. Jenner is pictured in 2019
In the accident, Jenner crashed into the back of Howe’s car, killing her
In February 2015, Caitlyn Jenner, who identified as Bruce at the time and was beginning her transgender journey, crashed into the back of a vehicle driven by 70-year-old Kim Howe.
There was a four-vehicle collision in which Howe, an animal rights activist, died at the scene.
Caitlyn had been driving a Cadillac 4×4 and pulling a dune buggy. She paid $800.00 in damages to Howe’s family.
In June of that year, 47-year-old rapper MC Supreme, known for his song “Black in America,” was sitting in a parked vehicle on the highway when a pickup truck hit him.
The artist, whose real name was Dewayne Lawrence Coleman, was pronounced dead at the scene while his passenger was taken to the hospital.
At the time, Hollywood actor Rob Lowe tweeted: “PCH has been a death trap for decades.”
‘No concern on site to deal with it.’ Sad and unacceptable.’
Dylan Mack, 18, and Albert “AJ” Rossi, 17, also died when a drunk driver struck their car from behind as they were stopped at a red light on the highway in 2018
MC Supreme (left), who was raped in the 1990s, died on the Malibu stretch of the highway in 2015, while Annabelle Ferrer Robinson (right) died in a violent one in November last year along with her father, aunt and a family friend in an accident near Mugu Point
Footage from the motorcyclist shows the stolen black Lexus SUV hitting the pickup truck that had the right of way at top speed in a video from November 2022
In 2018, three Las Vegas teenagers died on the highway near Huntington Beach after being hit by a drunk driver.
Bani Duarte, then 27, killed 17-year-old Brooke Hawley, 18-year-old Dylan Mack and 17-year-old Albert AJ Rossie in the fatal collision.
Among the latest victims is Annabelle Ferrer Robinson, who died along with her father, aunt and a family friend in a fiery crash on the highway near Point Mugu Rock in November last year.
In the same month, shocking dashcam footage was captured of the moment a motorcyclist is hit by a van on the motorway.
The footage shows driver Stephen Levey calmly waiting to turn left off the busy highway.
But a black SUV speeds off Kanan Dume Road straight onto the highway, clipping a large gray pickup truck heading toward Levy.
He suffered nine broken ribs, a damaged right esophagus, a collapsed lung and “lifelong trauma,” he said at the time.
In February, a meeting of the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, decided to redesign the stretch of road with increased safety measures in mind – although the changes are still in the planning stages.