DEADLY STREETS, NO ANSWERS TOO FEW COPS, TOO MANY BAD DRIVERS A BAD MIX.

Byline: Ryan Oliver Staff Writer

Los Angeles police issued their latest list of the deadliest streets in the San Fernando Valley - Sherman Way and Victory Boulevard - but admitted Wednesday that they have too few officers to stop the rise in traffic fatalities and serious crashes.

According to Los Angeles Police Department officials, Sherman and Victory were among the 20 most dangerous streets in 2001, so traffic law enforcement was focused at those and other problem streets, producing improvements the next year while the problem got worse in other areas with fewer cops.

It has become a cycle repeated each year, frustrating traffic cops who say there is little they can do as long as their numbers keep dwindling and motorists continue to defy common sense and the rules of safe driving.

``It seems to me people adapt their behavior to where the enforcement is,'' said Capt. Greg Meyer, head of the Valley Traffic Division. ``If they see motor officers deployed on those streets day after day, they slow down. But if those motor officers leave to work on another problem, they speed up.''

And there no longer are enough officers to overcome drivers' behavior patterns.

LAPD officials said the number of traffic cops in the Valley - half the city's area and nearly 40 percent of its population - is down to 75. Because of attrition and how resources are allocated, that's about half the number there were just a few years ago.

With 10 to 15 of those officers out of the rotation at any time due to illness, injury or vacation, and divided over three shifts, that typically leaves fewer than 20 traffic cops on duty at any given time for the entire Valley.

``It unfortunately isn't enough,'' conceded Deputy Chief Ron Bergmann, the Valley's top cop. ``We try to work the major streets and the worst intersections, but there's only so many resources to go around.''

There were 87 fatal traffic incidents last year overall in the Valley, up from 68 in 2002. Meyer said the numbers so far this year are showing no improvement with nine fatalities as a result of six collisions. Five of those deaths came in the past week from two high-speed crashes.

``Those are atrocious numbers and we have backslid from last year,'' he said.

Sherman and Victory were identified as two of the most dangerous streets in 2001. Traffic cops then set their attention on those stretches the following year, which caused fatal and serious crashes to drop there.

However, Burbank and Balboa boulevards increased to the No. 1 and 2 most dangerous streets as law enforcement's attention was turned elsewhere. When traffic officers targeted Burbank and Balboa in 2003, crashes on Sherman and Victory immediately climbed.

``We need to refocus on those two streets in 2004,'' Meyer said. ``We thought people would have been responsive over the course of time to drive more safely on them.''

Over the past three years, Sherman Way had 40 serious traffic incidents with nine of them resulting in deaths, according to the report. Victory Boulevard saw 37 serious crashes with seven fatals.

Victory Boulevard was also the site of three deaths early Tuesday when a drunken-driving suspect traveling 80 mph ran a red light at Haskell Avenue and his vehicle hit a Toyota Corolla broadside, police said.

The report identified Laurel Canyon Boulevard as the most deadly between 2001 and 2003 with 12 fatal incidents.

The annual report compiles the Valley's most dangerous 20 streets using the past three years of data. Meyer passes that information along to his traffic officers, who then concentrate their attention on those streets.

Bergmann said that's the most efficient way to reduce injuries and deaths given the department's limited resources. But like Meyer, he is dismayed to see crashes immediately climb in the officers' absence.

``It's the displacement factor,'' Bergmann said. ``If you put a lot of attention in one area, you have trouble somewhere else. The problem is, we don't have enough people doing traffic enforcement.''

Gerald Silver, president of the Encino Homeowners Association, said he and his members have noticed the decline of traffic cops.

``The fundamental problem you have here is an increasing population, an increasing number of drivers - many of them not qualified or licensed - and a decreasing number of officers doing enforcement.

``You don't see motor officers anymore sitting back and waiting for violators. There's only a certain length of time you can go on this lack of enforcement before it catches up to you.''

Ryan Oliver, [phone]

ryan.oliver(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) MOST DANGEROUS

(2) VALLEY'S MOST DANGEROUS STREETS*

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department