2 Deadly Crashes Prompt Parents’ Safety Campaigns : Accidents: Fatal hit-and-run incidents in Westlake district and Pacoima devastate two families. But the communities draw together to press for crossing guards and traffic signals.

An epidemic of deadly hit-and-run accidents in Los Angeles ripped apart two more families Thursday--and at the same time drew hundreds of other families together.

In the Westlake district west of Downtown, 7-year-old Kimberly Lopez died and her 11-year-old brother, Alan, was seriously injured after they were struck by a car while standing on a sidewalk. The accident was witnessed by dozens of children playing in a nearby schoolyard.

“She was a beautiful child, both inside and out,” said Rita Caldera, the principal of Kimberly’s school, who had the difficult task of informing the children’s parents, Matilde and Irving Lopez.

Other parents quickly responded by gathering Thursday at the intersection with homemade “stop” signs to form a squad of volunteer crossing guards, protecting youngsters crossing 7th Street and Union Avenue.

In Pacoima, in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, Maria Godoy, 48, and her 11-year-old daughter, Amalia, were killed while crossing a street. The motorist sped away. Godoy’s son, Marco, narrowly missed being hit because he stopped to tie his shoe.

Residents there also reacted quickly. On Thursday, they were planning a showdown with officials over traffic signals they had been seeking for the accident site--at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Montague Street--until they learned that traffic controls would be installed next week.

Los Angeles police say 23-year-old Fernando Bengoechea of Arleta surrendered 3 1/2 hours after Wednesday’s 8:05 p.m. Pacoima accident. He apparently struck the Godoys when he tried to pass another car that had stopped to let them cross the street at an unmarked crossing.

But police were still searching late Thursday for the driver of the yellow or tan 1974 Toyota Corolla with license number 880 KEL that witnesses said caused another car to hit the Lopez children at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“A witness started following him. We have a description,” said Detective Richard Lopez, who is unrelated to the victims.

Lopez said the Toyota was turning left when it broadsided an oncoming 1982 Buick driven by Olga Rodriguez, 20, of Los Angeles. That collision sent the Buick careening over the curb, where it hit the sister and brother.

Parents in the neighborhood of apartment houses and tiny homes said they have been trying for months to get a crossing guard assigned to the intersection.

“They told us in the past that there’s a traffic signal here so we don’t need a crossing guard,” said Berta Saavedra, a neighborhood activist. “But if drivers knew a guard was here or saw an orange vest, they’d slow down.”

Authorities said Thursday that is not necessarily true. “If a crossing guard had been standing there with a lot of kids, they all might have been hit,” the LAPD’s Lopez said.

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In Pacoima, angry residents complained that they have tried since 1990 to get traffic signals installed at Laurel Canyon and Montague. They were mapping plans to stage a sit-in at the office of City Councilman Richard Alarcon when officials disclosed that the long-sought signal system had previously been approved and, because of the accident, would be installed next week.

“It should have never gotten to this point,” said Paula Aguilar, who led the effort to get a signal. “I called and called and they said, ‘You have to wait your turn.’ And now this.”

City transportation engineers said Thursday it takes about two years to install traffic signals even after traffic patterns are studied and a signal is approved. A crosswalk also will be painted at the Pacoima site.

“It was not a very high priority before (the accident),” said Tom Swire, a senior city transportation engineer. “There are other locations that have more prevalent accidents. . . . It is too bad it wasn’t up a month ago.”

In the Westlake area, school psychologists were summoned to counsel about 35 children who were on the playground of Esparenza Elementary School, a few steps away from where the Lopez children were struck. Principal Rowena Lagrosa said parents and school leaders are not giving up on getting crossing guards assigned to the area.

About 50 parents working as do-it-yourself crossing guards Thursday afternoon said they plan to organize themselves on a rotating schedule to protect children at the intersection until officials take action.

“People drive too fast around here,” said Adolfo Rivera, a garment worker who stood at the accident site holding a hand-printed sign that commanded in Spanish: “Stop for Schoolchildren.”

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A few blocks away at the Lopez children’s campus, Union Avenue Elementary School, counselors were also called in to explain to second-graders that Kimberly would not be coming back.

The children attended Union Avenue School because a grandmother who lives nearby sometimes watched them after school, said Caldera, the principal.

“Kimberly loved to sing and dance,” Caldera said. “She learned all the words to an upcoming musical performance we’re having and taught them to her whole family.”

Lopez, a carpenter, and his wife, who works in a family business, were at the little girl’s side when she died about 12 hours after the accident, she said. Alan was reported in stable condition at the same hospital.

Family members said Pacoima victim Maria Godoy worked at a nursing home. She is survived by her 13-year-old son, Marco, her husband and four other children.

Officials say 18,317 people were killed or injured in hit-and-run accidents during 1992 in Los Angeles County. Last year, half of the 51,627 surface street accidents reported to Los Angeles police were hit and runs.

Times staff writer Timothy Williams contributed to this report.