Masako Maruya died after being struck Monday night in Kalihi; two teenage girls suffered head and other injuries when they were hit Saturday afternoon on busy McCully Street; and a 12-year-old boy suffered a broken thigh bone and a broken jaw Wednesday morning when he was struck while crossing Farrington Highway on his way to Wai'anae Intermediate School.

Pedestrian deaths on O'ahu spiked last year after plummeting in 2003. There were 24 pedestrians killed in 2004, up from 14 the year before.

This year, police say, pedestrian fatalities are slightly ahead of last year, with eight people killed in Honolulu, two in crosswalks, as of March 10, compared with seven at this time last year.

In response to Wednesday's accident, police stood outside Wai'anae Intermediate School with radar guns at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, hoping to slow motorists and make sure children paid attention to crosswalks.

Sean Silva, who was hit by a pickup truck, underwent surgery at The Queen's Medical Center yesterday to repair a broken leg.

Ida Raposa said her nephew was in a crosswalk when a Nissan pickup ran into him.

Raposa said witnesses to the accident told her that a car had stopped to let the boy cross the busy highway near a childcare center, but that the Ma'ili-bound pickup swerved into a lane nearest the center line to go around the stopped car and ran into the boy.

"They told us she did stop after she ran into Sean," Raposa said. "It wasn't a hit-and-run."

No arrests have been made.

In addition to a broken leg, the collision left the boy with a bruised spleen, raw scrapes to his head, arms and hip, and a broken jaw, Raposa said.

Raposa, 27, said her nephew is about 5 feet 5 and weighs 160 pounds.

"He's a very healthy kid; he was playing football before this happened. Since he was hit, he hasn't shed a single tear. He's got a lot of inner strength, thank God."

Raposa said she, the boy's mother, Pebbles Moniz, and seven others were scheduled to leave for a vacation in Las Vegas the morning of the accident.

"We were having breakfast at Byron's Drive-In by the airport and one of his friends called us on the cell phone sometime after 7 a.m. to say Sean had been hit."

The boy was taken by helicopter to Queen's. Raposa said doctors there have told family members that the four external stainless steel pins used to mend the boy's broken thigh bone will have to remain in place for about three months.

"They're talking about eight months of recovery, going from the pins to crutches to therapy to finally walking on his own again," Raposa said.

She said her nephew normally uses a different crosswalk on his way to school, but was using this crosswalk because he saw several of his friends waiting for him on the opposite side of Farrington Highway.

Maruya was identified as the pedestrian killed Monday night while trying to cross an intersection near the Kamehameha Shopping Center in Kalihi.

Police said she was in a marked crosswalk and was crossing Makuahine Street from east to west with a green light in her favor about 6 p.m. when she was hit by a pickup truck driven by a man turning left from Hala Drive onto Makuahine. No arrests have been made.

Amber Wataru was one of two teenage girls who were struck by a hit-and-run driver Saturday as they tried to cross McCully Street in heavy traffic going against a red light. Honolulu traffic investigators said one of the girls is 14 and the other 15. The second girl's name has not been released.

One of the teens was in critical condition suffering head and facial injuries, while the other was in good condition with shoulder and pelvis injuries. Both were going to be OK, an Emergency Medical Services supervisor said earlier.

Education and community awareness, police say, are the main strategies to preventing injury and death.

"We are trying to educate drivers to think it is their responsibility (to watch out for pedestrians)," said Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division Capt. Jose Guyton. "Granted, when we see a pedestrian doing something wrong, we give them a citation. A car against a human being will do all kinds of carnage."

HPD traffic safety officer Mel Andres regularly makes safety presentations to schools, senior groups, or other community organizations.

"We go out and help educate the public on various traffic fines and penalties and some of the safety tips for driving or walking about," said Andres.

In response to a number of elderly pedestrian deaths in 2004, HPD and the state Department of Transportation helped form Walk Wise Kupuna in 2004. The program was expanded early this year and is now called Walk Wise Hawai'i. The program supports Andres' community outreach work.

"Oftentimes it's not the pedestrian's fault; it could be driver error as well," Andres said. "People just need to be more aware of their surroundings when you're driving a vehicle."

Police also hope that legislation geared toward protecting pedestrians will pass this year.

Under the proposed law, most drivers would be required to come to a full stop whenever a pedestrian enters a crosswalk.

Under current law, drivers have to stop only when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk on the driver's half of the road. The proposed law calls for most drivers to stop, no matter where the pedestrian is in the crosswalk.

The only exception would be for people crossing a roadway divided by a medial strip. Drivers in those cases still would be subject to the old rules.

The bill did not make yesterday's initial deadline for legislation to move between the House and Senate and is at risk of failing.