Rules to improve safety on a Beverly Hills street where two members of the Los Angeles Police Department were killed in separate crashes with construction vehicles earlier this year were adopted Wednesday night by city officials.
The interim safety plan outlines regulations for Loma Vista Drive, where LAPD Officer Nicholas Lee was killed March 7 in a crash with a construction truck. About two months later, LAPD Detective Ernest Allen was killed when his vehicle was struck by a cement truck about 25 yards from the Lee crash.
Lee was responding to an emergency call on the steep and winding street, which residents have called a safety hazard. Allen was on his way to a second job. Five crashes involving large trucks have been reported on the street north of Sunset Boulevard in the Greystone Mansion area since October 2013.
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After the crashes, the city of Beverly Hills called for a street study and enacted a moratorium on the use of heavy haul trucks on the road. On Wednesday night, the council voted to lift the moratorium with certain safety measures recommended after a study that looked at traffic flow, vehicle speeds and circumstances that led to crashes in the Trousdale area.
Under the interim plan approved Wednesday, contractors must submit safety plans to the city for each project. Heavy haul trucks must have secondary brake devices and carry proof of vehicle inspection, according to the regulations. The city also must be provided with 24-hour notice for large deliveries and truck speed will be limited to 15 mph.
Violations will result in a shutdown of the construction site, according the city.
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"The goal of the City Council is to have zero serious accidents going forward," according to a statement from the city.
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The next phase of the city's study will involve passenger vehicle rules and parking on the street.
The moratorium is costing money for Brad Johnson, who has a tree-trimming service.
"We’re going to lose money because we have to load the smaller trucks multiple times, come down the hill, unload them, go back up, load them," he said. "It just takes twice as long."
It’s tough, but he understands.
"If they were careful in the beginning, this never would have happened," he said.
