Dead Man’s Curve in Malibu: Pepperdine Crash and Lawsuits

Dead Man’s Curve in Malibu is a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway roughly between Las Flores Canyon and Carbon Canyon Road that has become one of the deadliest roads in California. The corridor was engineered in the 1940s for lighter traffic and lower speeds than it now carries, and it funnels about 15 million annual beach visitors, parked cars, cyclists, and pedestrians alongside vehicles that regularly travel far above the posted limit. Over the past fifteen years, at least 61 people have been killed on the 21-mile Malibu segment of PCH, a toll marked by a roadside row of painted tires known as the Ghost Tire Memorial.¹

Why the Road Is So Dangerous

The layout dates to the 1940s, when PCH through Malibu was designed for speeds around 45 mph. By 2023, 85th-percentile speeds on the corridor had climbed to nearly 60 mph, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had taken to calling the stretch a “racetrack” where drivers frequently exceed 100 mph.² State collision data recorded 214 crashes on the Dead Man’s Curve segment alone between 2012 and 2023, and California Highway Patrol data showed a 129 percent increase in fatal and injury collisions across the broader Malibu PCH corridor between 2013 and 2023.

The pedestrian environment is what makes the road especially lethal. Safety studies going back more than 30 years have flagged the corridor for excessive speeds, high collision rates, and extreme pedestrian risk. Visitors walk along unprotected shoulders, without sidewalks, weaving around parked vehicles. The closest marked crosswalks to Dead Man’s Curve sit at the La Costa Beach Club and Carbon Canyon Road, leaving long gaps where there is no safe way to cross or to walk beside the highway.³

The Pepperdine Crash

The crash that pushed Dead Man’s Curve into national attention happened on the evening of October 17, 2023. Shortly before 9 p.m., Fraser Michael Bohm, then 22, was driving a BMW westbound on PCH when the car reached 104 mph in a 45 mph zone. Prosecutors say airbag data showed Bohm continued to accelerate even after the vehicle’s stability control engaged at 93 mph. He swerved onto the north shoulder and struck three parked vehicles, and the force pushed those cars into four Pepperdine University seniors who had just stepped out and were walking along the shoulder.⁴

All four students were killed: Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21. All were members of the Alpha Phi sorority, and Pepperdine later awarded them their degrees posthumously as part of the class of 2024.⁵ A fifth person, Carlos Solloa, was struck inside a parked car and survived with severe orthopedic and neurological injuries.²

Where the Criminal Case Stands

Bohm was charged with four counts of murder under a theory of implied malice, plus four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. He has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys have called it a “tragic car accident” and argued Bohm was being chased in a road-rage incident when he lost control. Prosecutors say there is no evidence of road rage, and they point to Bohm’s earlier statement to investigators that he had lost two close friends to speed-related crashes, arguing this shows he understood the risks.⁶

In November 2025, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson rejected a defense motion to dismiss the murder charges.⁴ As of a pre-trial hearing on May 19, 2026, both sides were still exchanging expert reports, and Judge Rubinson indicated he wants trial to begin in September 2026. Bohm’s next court date is July 1, 2026, at the Van Nuys Courthouse.⁷

Lawsuits Against the State and City

In September 2024, the families of all four killed students and the injured survivor filed four separate wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits in Santa Monica Superior Court. The defendants include the State of California, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the California Coastal Commission, Los Angeles County, and the City of Malibu.⁸

The suits allege the government entities share liability for a dangerous roadway design and for failing to implement life-saving safety measures despite decades of warnings. Plaintiffs cite 3,345 crashes on the stretch between 2013 and 2023, resulting in 53 deaths and 92 serious injuries.² They also point to a 2015 Malibu City Council plan that identified 130 highway safety improvements, of which only seven had been completed eight years later despite $28 million earmarked for the work.⁹ The families say their goal is not only compensation but to force the government entities to build the safety improvements. The plaintiffs are represented by Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP.

The Deaths Didn’t Start with Pepperdine

The modern safety movement on PCH traces back to April 3, 2010, when 13-year-old Emily Shane was struck and killed while walking along the highway’s shoulder near Heathercliff Road. The driver, Sina Khankhanian, was traveling 70 mph and was later convicted of second-degree murder, receiving a sentence of 15 years to life.¹⁰ The location was renamed Emily Shane Way, and her parents established the Emily Shane Foundation to advocate for PCH safety.¹¹

Since then the Ghost Tire Memorial has grown to 61 tires, each representing a PCH fatality.¹² The crashes have not slowed. On July 4, 2024, a head-on collision near Carbon Canyon Road killed the driver of a Cadillac SUV after a Mercedes crossed the center median. On December 4, 2025, a 53-year-old father driving to work was killed in a head-on crash when a 25-year-old driver swerved into his lane, with alcohol believed to be a factor.¹³ In September 2025, a pedestrian was critically injured after being struck while jaywalking at Dead Man’s Curve, in an area with no crosswalk.³ Another PCH fatality occurred in Malibu on February 3, 2026.

Speed Cameras and Enforcement

The most significant legislative response is Senate Bill 1297, authored by Senator Ben Allen and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 27, 2024. The law authorizes the City of Malibu to install up to five automated speed camera systems along the 21-mile PCH corridor as a pilot program running through January 1, 2032.¹⁴ The cameras photograph a vehicle’s license plate rather than the driver’s face, and penalties are civil: $50 for exceeding the speed limit by 11 to 15 mph, $100 for 16 to 25 mph over, $200 for 26 or more mph over, and $500 for speeds above 100 mph. Tickets do not affect a driver’s traffic record, and appeals go through civil court.¹⁵

The cameras have not yet gone live. As of May 2026, the Malibu City Council had sent the proposed contract with vendor Blue Line Solutions-CA, LLC back for revisions after the city attorney flagged provisions that could conflict with state law prohibiting vendor compensation tied to citation counts. The proposed system involves ten cameras at five locations, with projected annual revenue of roughly $4.5 million and annual contract cost not to exceed about $2.8 million.¹⁶ A related bill, SB 1509, which would have added two points to a driver’s license for traveling more than 26 mph over the limit, was vetoed by Newsom in September 2024. Separately, AB 1014 gave Caltrans authority to lower speed limits on PCH in high-injury areas.¹⁷

Enforcement has ramped up meanwhile. The city established a CHP Malibu Task Force in January 2024, and speeding ticket volume nearly doubled: officers issued 3,404 speeding tickets in the first half of 2024, compared to 1,865 in the same period of 2023.¹

Infrastructure Changes on the Ground

Caltrans allocated $4.2 million in emergency safety upgrades after the Pepperdine crash. The work included curve warning signs at four locations, 13 speed feedback signs at 10 locations, speed limit markings painted directly on the pavement, lane separators to prevent drift into oncoming traffic, enhanced striping, and a new pedestrian crosswalk near Carbon Canyon Road.¹⁸

The Malibu City Council declared a local emergency regarding PCH safety in November 2023 and has since spent $39 million on traffic safety projects, with another $8 million budgeted for signal synchronization. That synchronization work, covering 12 traffic signals between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and John Tyler Drive, was completed in early 2026.¹⁵ Caltrans is also installing two temporary “quickbuild” roundabouts near El Matador State Beach and Encinal Canyon Road, with completion expected by March 2026.¹⁹

The Long-Term Master Plan

The most ambitious effort is the Draft PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study, released by Caltrans in April 2025 after six community workshops the previous year. It covers the full 21 miles over a 20-year horizon and identified 1,245 fatal and serious-injury crashes between 2018 and 2023.²⁰ Recommendations include nine roundabouts, protected or buffered bike lanes along most of the corridor, expanded sidewalks near Carbon Canyon Road and Las Flores Canyon, raised crosswalks, travel lanes narrowed to as little as 10.5 or 11 feet, and the possible elimination of center turn lanes and some on-street parking.²¹

The proposals remain conceptual and unfunded. Estimated costs range from $62 million to $268 million depending on which options are selected, with potential funding from state and federal grants, parking fees, traffic camera revenue, and a possible local benefit assessment district. Implementation would phase over 10 to 30 years. The public comment period on the draft closed June 9, 2025.²¹

The gap between what has been proposed and what has actually been built remains the central tension on PCH. The speed cameras that were supposed to be operating are still stuck in contracting, the master plan is decades from full implementation, and people continue to die on the road. The city has reported a 22 percent reduction in injury collisions, though neither the baseline period nor the methodology behind that figure has been specified.¹⁵

1
Los Angeles Times. Malibu’s Dangerous PCH Pepperdine Anniversary
2
Law and Crime. Parents of Sorority Sisters Killed While Walking Along Dead Man’s Curve Sue California
3
Malibu Times. Pedestrian Hit on PCH at Dead Man’s Curve
4
Los Angeles Times. PCH Charges Crash Pepperdine Students
5
ABC 7. Remembrance Event to Honor Four Pepperdine University Students Fatally Struck on PCH
6
Fox LA. Defense Seeks Dismissal of Murder Charges in Malibu Crash That Killed Four Pepperdine Students
7
Pepperdine Graphic. Talk of September Trial Date After Fraser Michael Bohm Appears at Another Pre-Trial Hearing
8
ABC 7. Parents of Pepperdine Women Killed on PCH Sue State and Other Entities
9
New York Post. Families of California Sorority Sisters Killed in Crash on Famed Dead Man’s Curve Sue State
10
ABC 7. PCH Deaths Malibu Pepperdine Students Killed — 21 Miles In
11
Emily Shane Foundation. Emily Shane Foundation
12
Los Angeles Times. One Dead, Two Injured in Head-On Collision on Deadly Stretch of PCH in Malibu
13
NBC Los Angeles. Family Mourns Father Killed in Head-On Collision on PCH in Malibu
14
CalMatters. Malibu Traffic Camera Bill
15
City of Malibu. Pacific Coast Highway Safety
16
Santa Monica Daily Press. Malibu Sends Speed Camera Contract Back
17
Streets Are For Everyone. A Look at SAFE’s 2025 Projects
18
Go Safely PCH. Go Safely PCH – About
19
City of Malibu. PCH Roundabouts Project
20
Streetsblog LA. Caltrans Posts Draft Master Plan for PCH in Malibu
21
Santa Monica Daily Press. Caltrans Presents Long-Term Vision for Safer Multimodal PCH Through Malibu