SPEEDING TO DEATH? PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES CLIMB AS OFFICIALS LOOK TO 'GET BACK TO THE BASICS'.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

With a record number of pedestrian deaths in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles police have cracked down on traffic violations and launched an education campaign to prevent more fatalities.

Police recorded 25 pedestrian deaths in the Valley in 2000, compared with 21 in 1999, and 17 in 1998, according to LAPD statistics.

The numbers this year are not encouraging. Twelve people have been killed through April, compared with nine in the first four months last year.

``Zero is what were looking for, but that's not realistic,'' said LAPD Sgt. Dale Turner, a motorcycle officer with the Valley Traffic Division. ``If we could keep the number down to four or five deaths a year, I mean, my gosh, that would be an accomplishment.''

In an effort to cut down the number of fatalities, police officials are pressing patrol officers into writing more tickets, tutoring them in traffic laws, conducting weekly undercover pedestrian crosswalk operations and adding seven cops to the Valley Traffic Division, among other things.

And now, police say, they are trying to reach out to the minority community because many of its members are victims of these collisions.

``It's a huge public policy issue, not just in traffic enforcement, but in having people learn the ways of our society,'' said LAPD Capt. Greg Meyer, the head of the Valley Traffic Division.

``In a big, diverse community like L.A. where there are more than 100 different native languages spoken, it is a huge challenge.''

Groups such as Safe Moves, a nonprofit traffic safety education organization in Van Nuys, have been making inroads into the minority community, with programs at elementary and middle schools across Los Angeles County.

``Traffic laws are so different in their cities from ours,'' said Pat Hines, Safe Moves' director. ``In some poor cities, traffic is so bad that cars aren't moving at the speeds they are moving here. Many people expect the cars to stop.''

The Valley's long, wide streets are prime for speeding, and police often warn pedestrians that they should use extra caution when crossing, and obey traffic signs.

``Most people don't even go to the corner,'' said LAPD Detective Dwight Gillett of the Valley Traffic Division. ``They are under the impression that the pedestrian has the right of way, and they don't, when they're out of the crosswalk.''

Police believe that's what might have happened March 31 when Maritza Huete was killed and her 3-year-old son, Albert Olivas, was injured when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver as they tried to cross Roscoe Boulevard near Penfield Avenue in Winnetka.

The two were headed to a store to get milk. Witnesses told police the two had been crossing at midblock when they were struck by a metallic maroon Suzuki Sidekick, Gillett said.

Huete died at a hospital. Albert is recovering from leg and hip injuries and was expected to be released from Northridge Hospital Medical Center on Friday, Gillett said. Police are searching for the hit-and-run driver.

Lito and Marsha Lopez didn't know it, but they were walking last week near a North Hollywood intersection that has recorded two deaths in the last three years - Sherman Way at Vineland Avenue.

Despite their concerns about traffic, though, the couple didn't think twice about crossing from a Costco store to a shoe shop on the north side of Sherman Way, despite the presence of a crosswalk about 50 yards yards away. They blame bad drivers for much of the problems.

``There's a lot of traffic around here, and people don't stop. They just keep rolling sometimes,'' said Lito Lopez, 57, a jail cook for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Marsha Lopez conceded she was nervous about walking on busy streets.

``I don't want to get hit and get stuck in the hospital with broken bones,'' said the registered nurse.

Pedestrians along Ventura Boulevard, where police recorded six pedestrian fatalities in the last three years on or near a 15-mile stretch between Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills to Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood, expressed similar concerns.

``I don't feel safe walking within 100 miles of L.A.,'' said Ray Risk, 65, of Van Nuys as he walked to a record store along Ventura Boulevard in Studio City last week. ``Whenever I go somewhere, I like to make sure that the parking lot is right next to the store so that I don't have to walk too far.''

Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann, the Valley's top cop, has implemented new enforcement efforts to try and improve traffic safety. But it's a tall order.

``Some of these streets can be described as racetracks,'' said Bergmann, a former LAPD traffic division captain. ``Every time I go to roll calls or training days, I talk traffic enforcement. We need to get back to the basics. We've kind of neglected it.''

But still, police wonder whether any of their efforts will pay off.

``I think we're all frustrated,'' said Turner, whose motorcycle cops set up weekly undercover operations to ticket motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians.

``We go to numerous locations to attack the problems, then all of the sudden we leave, and a few weeks later, bingo, someone gets hit.''

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) LAPD Officer Santiago Rosales, above, of the Valley Traffic Division yells at cars as they race past him in a crosswalk on Platt Street. Valley Traffic Division Officer James Panek, left, gives a motorist a speeding ticket during a recent pedestrian task force sting operation at Platt and Haynes streets.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer