CAR HITS BROTHER, SISTER IN CONTENTIOUS CROSSWALK.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

A young sister and brother were hit by a car Tuesday morning as they walked to Plum Canyon School with their mother, crossing an intersection where residents have fought for a traffic signal for more than a year.

The 8-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy suffered only minor injuries, but the incident spurred frustrations among residents near the Rodgers Drive and Plum Canyon Road intersection about their children crossing where cars sometimes reach highway speeds.

``It's a major thoroughfare. We've been lobbying since April of 1997 and the city has given us bureaucratic nonsense,'' said Curt VanLeeuwen, who has a son, 9, and daughter, 6. ``Everyone's pretty upset about it right now. We're going to get a child killed out there. We really don't want our children to be casualties.''

Still, city engineering staff members said the latest incident may not have been prevented by a traffic signal that would halt drivers on Plum Canyon Road.

Sheriff's Deputy Mike Shapiro said driver Patrick Theis was southbound on Rodgers Drive and stopped at the sign where the street meets Plum Canyon Road. Theis waited to make a right turn, and proceeded after seeing that no cars were coming, Shapiro said.

Theis did not see the pedestrians crossing Plum Canyon Road at a legal but unmarked crosswalk and knocked the two children to the ground about 7:45 a.m., Shapiro said. The children were taken by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, he said.

Theis told authorities he did not see the pedestrians because his vision was hampered by the sun's glare, Shapiro said.

Theis was found at fault in the incident, and the information will be forwarded to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Shapiro said. No ticket was issued.

City staff members said a right turn on a red light would have resulted in the same outcome.

``We're not sure that a traffic signal would have helped the situation,'' said Rabie Rahmani, senior traffic engineer.

But they did acknowledge that the intersection has been on the city's list of places in need of traffic lights.

A traffic report submitted for the City Council's review two months ago ranked the intersection eighth out of 15 for areas in need of a signal, Rahmani said. But the city can usually afford to install only one or two traffic signals a year, at about $140,000 each, he said.

Intersections around the city are evaluated every year just before the start of a new fiscal year, Rahmani said. Traffic engineers take into account a variety of factors, including traffic volume, the number of crashes and collisions and their proximity to parks, schools, churches or other high-use centers, he said.

``We need to look at the overall picture,'' Rahmani said. ``Some intersections have higher accident counts or higher traffic.''

The Haskell Canyon Road intersection at Grove Park was ranked first this year for a traffic signal, Rahmani said. But that does not mean that the Rodgers Drive intersection gets bumped to seventh, he said. Intersection evaluations will be done again toward the end of this fiscal year, he said.

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PHOTO Traffic moves along the intersection of Plum Canyon Road and Rodgers Drive on Tuesday where a brother and sister were injured.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News