Police to Increase Traffic Patrolling in Wake of Deaths : Law enforcement: Sites of frequent collisions will be targeted. Public education will also be emphasized.

In the wake of two traffic accidents that claimed the lives of four women in less than a week, the top LAPD official in the San Fernando Valley says police will knuckle down on traffic enforcement in the coming weeks.

“We have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in our communities, and that includes not only crime but traffic,” Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy said. “This year we have a greater number of traffic fatalities than homicides. We must drive more safely in the Valley.”

Valley traffic officers compiled statistics on traffic collisions in the first quarter of 1995 and located several corridors with the greatest number of accidents. Although there has been a marked drop in homicides in the Valley this year--only 15 reported in the first quarter--Pomeroy said it was discouraging that the number of traffic fatalities has remained about the same as last year--29 so far.

Maps highlighting these corridors will be hung at every LAPD station in the Valley, Pomeroy said, and traffic patrols will be beefed up in those areas. The most dangerous stretches of road in the Valley are Sepulveda Boulevard and Sherman Way, Pomeroy said.

Accompanying the maps will be lists of the top 10 causes of traffic accidents, Pomeroy said--the top two are speeding and not heeding the right of way.

What is needed, Pomeroy said, is a combination of tougher enforcement and public education.

Pomeroy said the project was begun before two pairs of pedestrians were killed recently by motorists in unrelated accidents. In Reseda on Thursday, two Korean women, ages 72 and 67, were struck by a car on their way to English lessons. On April 8, two Guatemalan sisters, 54 and 53, crossing a North Hollywood street were killed when they were struck by a car that police said was speeding. The sisters had planned to return to their homeland this weekend.

Pomeroy said officers will hold meetings in senior citizen centers to discuss pedestrian safety.

A spokeswoman for Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents the West Valley, said she has written to Police Chief Willie L. Williams requesting tougher enforcement of traffic laws and an education program for Valley residents.

Eric Rose, a Chick aide, said the councilwoman has been pressing officials for some time on the matter. “I expect they will take action now,” he said.

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Dangerous Corridors The LAPD’s Valley Bureau has put together a map of hot spots where traffic accidents have recently occurred., in an effort to step up enforcement in those areas.