Traffic Deaths

Traffic accidents killed 40,676 Americans last year, up from 40,115 in 1993 and the second consecutive year of increase, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday. Highway fatalities had been falling for several years. While deaths were up, the number of miles driven also increased, keeping the highway death rate constant at 1.7 per million miles driven. Dr.

Congratulations to Times reporter Michael Krikorian for his outstanding article, "Coming Face to Face With Sudden Death Tragedy on the Streets of L.A." (Jan. 27). The sudden deaths of Judith Lopez and her 8-year-old daughter, Beatrice, and the major injuries suffered by 6-year-old daughter Jamie at Parthenia and Tampa, were truly tragic. Witnesses like Krikorian and Sylvia Vasquez usually arrive before our police officers and firefighters, and we thank them for their efforts to help the victims.

The number of traffic deaths and drunk-driving arrests were higher this Memorial Day weekend than last year's, the California Highway Patrol said Monday. From Friday evening to Monday morning, 1,454 people were arrested statewide for driving under the influence -- up 7% from the same period last year, the CHP said. During the same period, 28 people died on the state's highways and roads, up from 20 last year.

Two motorists died in Los Angeles County over the New Year's holiday, the California Highway Patrol reported. Between 6 p.m. New Year's Eve and midnight Wednesday, 193 motorists were arrested in L.A. County for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, CHP Officer Glen Dominguez said. In 1985, the last time the New Year's holiday spanned a 30-hour period, there were seven traffic deaths in Los Angeles County.

Traffic deaths in Los Angeles County over the Christmas weekend decreased sharply this year, with only two fatalities compared to nine in 1986, authorities said. Drunk driving arrests were also far lower, although the decline was due in part to the fact that the holiday weekend was one day shorter than in 1986. In the city of Los Angeles, 125 drunk driving arrests were made this year, contrasted with 208 last year, police said.

A former part-time Glendale city worker was convicted of four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter today in the 1988 drunk-driving deaths of two women and their two daughters. A Superior Court jury in Pasadena deliberated less than a day before announcing the decision in the case against William Kilpatrick Conway, who could face up to 18 years in prison when he is sentenced March 7.

An allegedly drunk driver accused of causing a head-on collision on Pacific Coast Highway that killed two Pepperdine University law students and injured two others pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and other charges. Kelly Dean Eastman, 37, of Los Angeles--who authorities say has an earlier drunk driving conviction from a 1994 Utah incident--was being held in lieu of more than $2-million bail. The law students were taking a dinner study break Dec.

With less than a week to go before New Year's Day, this year's death toll on Nevada highways is ready to surpass the record 348 deaths set in 1996. The record was tied Christmas Day when Alberto Garcia-Pacheco, 24, of Sparks was killed in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 80 east of Sparks. "Unfortunately, it has been a busy year for fatal crashes," said Michael Perondi of the state Office of Traffic Safety.

Defying predictions that higher speed limits would mean more carnage, the number of deaths on California's highways dropped in 1997 to the lowest level in 38 years, state officials reported Monday. The California Highway Patrol reported that 3,671 people died on streets, highways and freeways last year, a drop of almost 2,000 from the all-time high of 5,503 in 1979.

Los Angeles police are cracking down on motorcyclists in the San Fernando Valley after observing reckless riding and a flurry of fatal crashes involving people not licensed to ride the bikes, according to Los Angeles Police Lt. Alan Kerstein. The crackdown was begun by four officers who have written nearly 800 tickets and impounded about 750 bikes since mid-June, Kerstein said.