FIFTEEN KILLED IN HOLIDAY CRASHES; HOLIDAY WEEKEND DEADLIEST SINCE 1990.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Fifteen people died in traffic-related crashes in Los Angeles County during the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, making it the deadliest end of November travel period in nine years.

Six of the deaths occurred when a taxicab driver drove around lowered crossing gates and was hit by a Metro Blue Line commuter train. The impact split the cab in two, killing the driver and five passengers, said Frank Wheaton, a spokesman for the city of Compton. All six people in the car were killed.

Car crashes, including one in Chatsworth, accounted for the other deaths during an 84-hour period beginning Wednesday at 6 p.m. and ending Sunday at 6 a.m., California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Wendy Moore said.

The 15 deaths were a sharp increase from last year, when there was one traffic-related death on the county's roadways. This was the highest number of traffic deaths during the Thanksgiving weekend since 1990, when 17 people were killed in Los Angeles County.

``Unfortunately, the train wreck in Compton had six fatalities in it,'' Moore said. ``That easily jumped those numbers up.''

Despite the high number of deaths this year, Moore said the CHP was successful with its ``maximum enforcement'' effort, which means 85 percent of the agency's officers on duty are on the streets looking for drunken drivers and other traffic violators.

Her assessment was based on the increase in drunk-driving arrests this year and the fact that only three of the fatal crashes occurred on roads the CHP patrols. The other 12 were in incorporated cities.

``It appears to have been very successful, based on the numbers,'' she said.

In Los Angeles County, the CHP arrested 311 people for driving under the influence, compared to 286 over the 1998 Thanksgiving holiday.

Statewide, the CHP reported 38 traffic fatalities this year, compared to 28 last year, and 1,317 driving under-the-influence arrests, compared to 1,256 last year, Moore said. Of the fatal crashes this year, nine of the victims were not wearing seat belts.

The Thanksgiving holiday normally involves heavy traffic as people visiting relatives and then returning to the Los Angeles area jam freeways.

Late Sunday, a van fire on the southbound San Diego Freeway, just south of the Ventura Freeway interchange, delayed the arrival home for some travelers.

The 9:30 p.m. blaze forced CHP officers to block traffic for about 25 minutes as fire crews extinguished the flames, said CHP Officer Patrick Kimball. No one was injured, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman said.

Traffic backed up north of the 405-101 interchange for at least a mile on the San Diego Freeway and caused delays for trying to get from the Ventura Freeway onto the southbound 405.

Three of the fatal crashes occurred in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys and the Palmdale area.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office on Sunday identified 14-year-old Lancaster resident Steven Owen Vick as the youth who died while attempting to cross lanes of the Antelope Valley Freeway on his bicycle. The crash occurred Saturday about 3:30 p.m. near the southbound Avenue P exit, Moore said.

An unidentified passenger was killed Saturday evening in Valencia when a driver lost control and the car flipped on Plum Canyon Road near Via Joyce, Moore said. The CHP was still looking for the driver Sunday, who fled the scene of the crash, Moore said.

Another unidentified passenger was killed Saturday morning in the 9800 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

The crash occurred when driver Joseph Romagnano, 28, of Thousand Oaks, was driving at a high rate of speed, lost control and the vehicle collided with a bus sign, power pole, wooden barricade and concrete signal control vault, said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Ron Tingle of the Valley Traffic Division.

Officers arrested Romagnano on charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs, Tingle said.

Los Angeles International Airport saw heavy traffic over the weekend, as the number of people flying in and out of the airport jumped from a normal average of 160,000 passengers a day to 172,000, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.

Castles said traffic at the airport was heavy Sunday afternoon. ``We expect it to be closer to 190,000 tonight,'' she said.