Hit-and-Run Deaths Anger Neighborhood : Tragedy: Maria and Amalia Godoy were killed at a busy intersection where residents had petitioned for a traffic light.

Residents living near the Pacoima intersection where a woman and her 12-year-old daughter were killed by a hit-and-run driver had complained for years that the corner was dangerous to pedestrians.

On Thursday, city transportation officials agreed to begin installing traffic signals at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Montague Street next week.

But neighbors say they are angry the improvement comes too late to save the lives of Maria Godoy, 48, and her daughter, Amalia, who were struck by a car while crossing the unmarked intersection Wednesday night on their way home from a relative’s house. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Godoy’s 13-year-old son, Marco, who was also walking home, avoided being hit because he stopped to tie his shoe before stepping into the street.

“It should have never gotten to this point,” said Paula Aguilar, who led the campaign to install signals there. “I called and called and they said, ‘You have to wait your turn.’ And now this.”

The alleged driver of the car, Fernando Bengoechea, 23, of Arleta, turned himself in to Los Angeles police shortly before midnight Wednesday, about four hours after the accident. He has been charged with two counts of manslaughter, police said.

Maria Godoy and her daughter were carrying cooking pots containing their dinner as they walked home from a relative’s house nearby, according to family members. When they reached the intersection, they waited for a break in traffic and began to cross.

Marco stayed behind to tie his shoe and waved to thank the driver who had stopped for them, relatives said.

As Maria and Amalia began crossing, another motorist--who police allege was Bengoechea--swerved from behind the first driver, striking the mother and daughter with a force that knocked them 140 feet, police said.

Witnesses told police that the driver did not slow down after the accident.

On Thursday, the corner was marked with paper flowers, balloons and black ribbons wrapped around light poles. Throughout the day, friends and family members added to the impromptu memorial and talked about the battle for a traffic signal at the intersection.

“Isn’t it a shame it took this?” asked one woman. “A mother and daughter die, and now we’ll get our stoplight.”

In 1990, residents of the neighborhood collected about 300 signatures for a petition that urged the city to place a signal at the corner. Neighbors said the petition was given twice to an aide of former City Councilman Ernardi Bernardi because one set of petitions was lost.

Neighbors had been particularly concerned for students attending nearby Montague Street Elementary School, as well as for pedestrians crossing the intersection to reach a shopping center.

As a result of their efforts, the city’s Transportation Department had completed the necessary steps for putting a stoplight at the intersection, according to an internal city memo. Those steps included a study of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, a review of reported accidents and a survey of the area’s existing traffic signals.

The city found there were seven serious accidents--including two fatalities--at the intersection since 1986.

A 1992 city memo concludes: “A review of all the factors affecting traffic behavior at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard an Montague Street indicates the installation of a traffic signal is justified. In conjunction with the installation of a new traffic signal, crosswalks will be installed.”

A Transportation Department official said Thursday that the construction of the signals and crosswalk had been approved for this summer. Such improvements routinely take as long as two years after department approval.

But as a result of the accident this week, crews will begin installing the light Monday, city officials said.

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

Standing on the back patio of his big green house on Bracken Street, Marco Godoy Sr. said Thursday he harbored no resentment for the hit-and-run driver.

“I don’t feel mad to the guy who killed my family,” the 56-year-old parking garage manager said wearily. “I’ll leave that to God.”

After the accident, Godoy said his sister paged him at work. “My sister said, ‘Come home, right now. Something happened that is terrible.’ She wouldn’t tell me what had happened, but I thought it was just a minor accident. I never thought I would find my wife and child dead.”

Tragedy also struck in the Westlake district west of Downtown, where 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.

Police were still searching 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.