TRAFFIC DEATHS UP FOR '00 A.V.'S 36 ROAD FATALITIES SURPASS 1999 TOTAL.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Traffic fatalities on Antelope Valley roads since January have already surpassed the death toll in all of 1999, officials said Friday.

Officials say 36 people have died this year - five of them in the first two weeks of October, the latest Friday - compared with 31 fatalities reported from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 1999.

``I wish there were one problem intersection or area causing us trouble that could be fixed, but there isn't,'' said traffic Sgt. Gus Risinger of the Lancaster sheriff's station.

``As long as there are people driving around at a high rate of speed or not paying attention, there will be people who get killed,'' said traffic Deputy Mike Redding. ``We just have to keep doing what we can to keep these numbers down.''

This month, a 6-month-old baby and his 13-year-old sister were killed on the Antelope Valley Freeway near Acton, a motorist died at a crash- prone Lancaster intersection and a passenger in a pickup truck driven by a drunk driving suspect died on a dirt road in Littlerock.

On Friday, an 85-year-old Palmdale man died when his pickup truck was hit while making a left turn onto Avenue I near 10th Street West.

The first deadly crash this month happened Oct. 2 when a van driven by a Rosamond mother veered off the freeway, killing 6-month-old Aaron Valdivia and sister Jeanette Valdivia, 13. A 4-year-old suffered a skull fracture in that crash, and their mother and 8- and 17-year-old siblings suffered minor injuries.

Six days later, Cheryl Ann Libes was killed at the intersection of Avenue K and 30th Street West when her car was hit broadside by a 1998 Honda Accord officials said ran a red light.

Raymond Patrick Hagar, 48, of Littlerock was killed Oct. 9 when the truck in which he was riding overturned on Avenue S near 116th Street East. The truck's driver, William Angle, 33, of Littlerock was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Despite the high number of crashes this month, officials say the real increase in fatalities this year is due to two deadly separate crashes on July 13.

Four people died in a fiery head-on crash when Rosamond parolee Shawn Beavers, 27, lost control of a stolen Jeep Cherokee at nearly 100 mph on Sierra Highway in Palmdale.

Killed when the Cherokee hit a Lexus sport utility vehicle were Mark Rittenburg, 52, Mary Rittenberg, 49, and Georgina Schmidt, 43, all employees of a Lancaster medical office; plus Therese Frisch, 38, Beavers' passenger.

Beavers has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of methamphetamine.

Earlier that morning, Ron Wesseler, 43, of Lake Hughes was killed when his 1997 Ford F-150 ran a red light on Avenue L-8 near 50th Street West and hit an Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus filled with passengers.

``These are innocent people dying most of the time,'' Risinger said just after the incidents. ``They're not gang-related or narcotics-involved - they're you and me.''

According to the California Highway Patrol, which has jurisdiction over the area's highways, 14 people were killed in 13 crashes so far this year, compared with 12 motorists dying in a dozen crashes last year.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has responded to 18 Antelope Valley crashes this year, in which 22 people died, up from 19 people dying in 18 crashes last year.

Last year, the Palmdale sheriff's station reported eight fatal crashes resulting in nine deaths, while 10 people died in 10 fatal crashes in the area covered by the Lancaster station.

This year, Lancaster has responded to 13 crashes with 14 deaths, including four involving drivers suspected of being drunk or on drugs, and Palmdale has responded to five collisions with eight deaths, with one crash involving a suspected impaired driver - Beavers' crash.

``We can't look at the number of fatalities so much as the number of crashes,'' Redding said. ``If a bus crashes and involves two vehicles but kills 20 people, we have to look at the crash as a single incident and see what we can do to reduce the accidents. That in turn reduces the fatalities.''

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Chart: Traffic Fatalities in the Antelope Valley

Source: Daily News research

Staff Graphic