Actor Mel Gibson, director and producer of the film 'The Passion of the Christ'.
MALIBU, California (AP)
Mel Gibson is only the latest celebrity to find trouble on an infamous stretch of the scenic Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).
A wild-eyed Nick Nolte was immortalised in a 2002 mug shot taken after he was caught weaving along the road under the influence of the drug GHB. Robert Downey Jr. was taken into custody in 1996 after authorities stopped him for speeding on the winding, beach-side highway and found cocaine, heroin and a pistol in his car.
With a huge number of celebrity homes nearby and murderously twisty terrain, the PCH has ensnared more than its share of superstars.
Filled with blind spots and hairpin curves wrapped around some of the most beautifully distracting scenery in the country, the PCH has been called an accident waiting to happen.
"At best, stone cold sober, and not fatigued and at 2:30 a.m., it is a difficult road to drive," said Arnold G. York, publisher of the local newspaper, The Malibu Times. "No traffic engineer in his right mind would have designed it this way."
Drivers are supposed to slow to 45 mph (72 kph) through Malibu but - except during rush-hour traffic jams when they have no choice - few ever do.
Not that alcohol, drugs or even bad driving is necessarily involved when a celebrity gets in trouble along Malibu's main drag.
Hit by car
Actor and singer Ben Vereen was struck by a Chevrolet Suburban in June 1993 when he tried to cross the highway in the dark as he walked home from a friend's house. He was badly hurt, but made a full recovery.
Last December, Drake Bell of the hit teen TV show Drake & Josh suffered a broken jaw, broken neck and had seven teeth knocked out when his vintage Ford Mustang was struck by another vehicle as he waited to make a left turn from PCH onto another street.
"I was hit head-on at 60 miles per hour while I was at a dead stop," the
20-year-old Bell, who also recovered, told The Associated Press recently.
Authorities say Gibson was travelling at 87 mph (140 kph) with a bottle of tequila in the car, when his 2006 Lexus LS 430 was stopped Friday morning at 2:36.
The highway is often pitch dark when people race through the area at night. During the day, with the sparkling Pacific Ocean to the west and sun-
dappled cliffs and canyons dotted with multimillion-dollar mansions to the east, there is much to gawk at.
As a result, Hollywood loves PCH. It is a favourite location for television commercials and it was the lead player in the James Garner series The Rockford Files. Before that, America saw it in the 1960s Beach Party movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
