Around noon today, a BMW zooming down Oriental Boulevard towards West End Avenue lost control, vaulted over the median, and plowed into the park fence on Hastings Street, said Flori Kostoff of the Manhattan Beach Community Group.
According to Kostoff, the car had several passengers, one of whom was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown. The others were arrested.
Kostoff was dispatched to take photos for the group as part of their ongoing campaign for stronger enforcement of traffic laws on Oriental Boulevard. When she arrived, she said she heard one passenger ask the police if it would take long because he needed to get to an exam. She also said none of them copped to being the driver of the car. The owner was charged with excessive speeding, but he said he was not behind the wheel.
The car left skid marks in the street, damaged a fence, and rendered a bench useless. Kostoff says it could be up to two years for the bench to be replaced, as thats how long it has taken for other benches in the area that were damaged in automobile accidents.
This is an ongoing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Has MBCG suggested to NYCDOT that they should install “large” speed bumps every block or two yet? That would fix the speeding problem. “Yes,” I know, it would slow standard traffic, but would you rather drive 5 mph slower or get hit by a speeding car?
You can’t have speed bumps on Oriental Blvd because of MTA and school buses. MBCG has been clamoring for everyone to realize that speeding is the number one danger in Manhattan Beach. No one wants lights or stop signs every 2 blocks. The police are doing their best. KCC needs to do more to educate their students about speeding. Also, Manhattan Beach residents need to slow down and drive carefully. We are a neighborhood of schools, children and visitors from every part of the city. One fatality was enough last year. This accident could have been a thousand times worse as it occurred around the corner from PS 195. Ira Zalcman, Pres. MBCG
I’ve lived in enough areas that had similar issues and their solution: wide speed bumps (they slow you down; not the kind you basically have to crawl over) and stop signs every few blocks. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” The “I want a solution, but it better not inconvenience ME!” mentality leads to the solution it as wrought, i.e. no solution at all.
the only solution is a couple of stop signs. one somewhere between west end and ocean and another between ocean and kbcc right after the parking lot entrance to the beach. this is the only place i know of that is a local street and you can drive a long distance without a stop or light even though theres a blinker at ocean. i am for people moving along at a good pace but there is way to many dumb kids and some adults in the area that dont understand how speed works. getting up to a fast speed is one thing controlling it is another. this is nothing new here a kid crashed into the same fence and died i think it was 2001 he was dring a 5 series bmw people still put flowers there. i also remember another accident during the day kid had a porsche and crashed through the gate to kbcc on shore.
As someone that rides his bike twice a day on Oriental Blvd, and has had several near-misses (and one actual hit) with a$$hole drivers over there, I would certainly welcome speed bumps, stop signs, increased police presence and mandatory floggings of people who do not obey the traffic law. Has the police department increased their presence in the area since the school has boomed and the student population swelled? Seems to me that maybe the school could do more on their part (besides just increased education about speeding). What will it take for something to be done about this? Do we have to wait till some idiot plows through the many crowds of children and students?
speeding is never the issue….just bad drivers
Near miss? A near miss is a collission, to quote my favorite comic “oh look, they nearly missed!”. What you mean is a near hit!
As for speeding, I laugh everytime people suggest “educating” anyone on the dangers of speeding. Everyone knows the dangers of speeding, the problem is not speeding itself but a combination of other factors. No amount of telling people to slow down or speed bumps or tickets will prevent speeding on that road, the same way zebra srtripes havnt prevented speeding and drag racing in Gerritsen Beach. If anything I’m willing to bet that since Oriental Blvd was converted to One Lane speeding has increased. Why? Because drivers are impatient and nobody wants to get stuck behind a slow driver, so they speed to prevent anyone from pulling ahead of them.
If you want to curb speeding then Ocean Ave should be an All Way Stop Sign, and one or two more stop signs further down, perhaps every 3 blocks so there is no where to accelerate too. Additionally the second lane should be reopened allowing drivers to legally pass one another espeicially when someone is clogging the street waiting to make a left or pull over.