2 Immigrants Killed Crossing I-5 : Accident: A record 15 pedestrians have died in 1990 near the San Onofre Border Patrol checkpoint.

A 37-year-old Mexican woman and a teen-age girl, both struck by a car shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve, became the 14th and 15th immigrant pedestrians killed in 1990 along Interstate 5 near the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre.

The year’s death toll is the highest ever in the area, where at least 65 northbound immigrants have been hit since 1987--40 of them killed--while attempting to go around the busy checkpoint, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The hazardous trek often involves two crossings of eight lanes of high-speed traffic in a poorly lit area where few motorists expect to see pedestrians.

The carnage has prompted California transportation authorities to post warning signs and caution lights and to take other measures to alert motorists and pedestrians to the danger.

Just last week, Caltrans announced plans to erect a $10-million, 8-mile-long chain-link fence in the freeway median--the most dramatic step to date aimed at reducing the bloodshed. The plan has drawn intense opposition, however, with immigrant advocates arguing that the barrier could increase the toll by leaving pedestrians trapped in the middle of the busy roadway.

The two latest victims were struck by a southbound sedan at 11:54 p.m. Monday, the CHP said. Officials said the driver, Gretchen Carter, 21, of San Diego, was going about 55 m.p.h. in the far-right lane and did not see the victims until it was impossible to avoid them.

Carter was uninjured, although her car was badly damaged and had to be towed away, the CHP said.

The previous record year for fatalities was 1989, when authorities reported 14 pedestrian deaths near the checkpoint, just south of the Orange County line. In addition to the 15 fatalities this year, at least nine people have been struck and survived.

The San Diego County medical examiner’s office said the older victim, Elva Valdes Lopez of the Mexican state of Michoacan, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her companion, tentatively identified as Del Carmen Valdez Hidalgo, 15, also of Michoacan, was taken by paramedics to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where she was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday.

It was not known if the two women were related, coroner’s officials said. They were presumed to be headed to reunions with family members or friends.

Both bodies will remain in county morgues until claimed by relatives, authorities said. As of late Christmas Day, no family members had inquired about the two.

“We have no ideas who their families are,” said William Leard, deputy San Diego County coroner. “We just put the names out and hope that someone comes forward.”

The portion of I-5 near the Border Patrol checkpoint is one of two major problem areas for immigrant pedestrians in the San Diego area. The other--and more hazardous--danger zone is near the U.S.-Mexico boundary strip, about 75 miles south of the checkpoint.

Officials say that at least 158 immigrant pedestrians have been struck there since 1987, including 87 who died.