Urgent Crisis:
Must Someone Die Before Officials Act?!
Taken together, these multiple causes collectively create the dangerous conditions around Point Lobos. Multiple challenges require multiple, coordinated solutions from multiple governmental agencies.
Multiple Challenges, Multiple Agencies,
No Cohesive Plan
There are many independent agencies responsible for the area.
Caltrans is responsible for the highway.
California State Parks manages Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.
Multiple other government entities also have a say in how the highway and Reserve function:
Monterey County sets the parking ordinances.
California Coastal Commission must review and approve any proposed changes to this coastal area.
California Highway Patrol, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, and State Parks peace officers (all greatly understaffed and stretched over huge patrol territories) struggle to prevent (or cite) parking and moving violations that threaten throngs of pedestrians on the road.
CalFire must navigate the thicket of backed up, bumper-to-bumper traffic along with hordes of pedestrians weaving in and out of cars parked on a narrow shoulder.
Coordinating all those agencies isn’t really anyone’s job. Plus, all those government entities have many competing priorities and endless other projects. None of them is truly focused on keeping a visitor to Point Lobos safe.
It’s a little bit like the fable of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody: Everybody knew there was an awful problem that Somebody should fix; Anybody could have taken the initiative to get Everybody working on the solution; but Nobody did.
California State and Monterey County public officials dutifully meet with their counterparts and earnestly discuss what they all recognize is a tragedy-in-waiting. They talk. They float ideas. And then they plan to meet again. Rinse. Repeat. Solutions move slowly in the bureaucratic morass of multi-agency (state, county, local) purviews and permit requirements.
But the urgent situation at Point Lobos demands that public officials and agencies do better. Faster.
Making It Better
As the documentary evidence on this site demonstrates, there is an urgent, irrefutable need (a moral imperative) to address a clear and present, life-threatening danger.
Parking on Highway 1 imperils the safety and well-being of persons who simply want to spend a peaceful day in nature at beautiful Point Lobos.
Some folks point out that no pedestrians have been struck or killed. (Yet.)
Yes, we’ve been lucky. But with both the number of cars and pedestrians increasing, we’re just one distracted driver away from a devastating fatal collision. (And a wrongful death suit that will cost much more than any proposed solution to preventing such a catastrophe.)
Fortunately, there are many solutions. Some harm-avoidance measures could be done in about a week; some will take longer to implement. But we can make this better starting right now.
You can help by taking action now. Urge government officials to act now. Please take a moment to help prevent a horrible tragedy.
We all know that if a child or an elderly pedestrian were struck by a speeding vehicle while making their way to Point Lobos, public outcry and official action would follow immediately.
Must we wait for a terrible tragedy before officials take decisive action to prevent death and injury?
Why The Delay
Well-meaning public officials have a challenge in managing safe access to Point Lobos.
The safety ‘problem’ on Highway 1 near Point Lobos actually stems from multiple causes. Greg Psihas, who lives near Point Lobos, identifies five pieces to this problem puzzle:
Lack of pedestrian infrastructure.
Insufficient parking, lack of parking rules enforcement.
Danger to drivers forced into the path of oncoming vehicles because pedestrians must walk on the highway.
Impeded access for Emergency responders.
Multiple California Vehicle Code violations insufficiently addressed by law enforcement.
Greg and the Carmel Highlands Association, a neighborhood group, created this video to document these challenges:
The root causes of the safety emergency at Point Lobos are identified and documented.