KALIHI — Two accidents within 12 hours involving children have residents on edge and calling for drivers to slow down in an area long known as a hostile zone for pedestrians.

On Monday night, a 6-year-old boy was seriously injured after being struck while trying to cross Kalihi Street. The driver involved fled the scene.

The child was presumably heading home from nearby DeCourt Park about 7:30 p.m. when he was hit on or near a crosswalk at the intersection with Maliu Street. Residents said the crossing, on a blind turn, is poorly lit.

"We've had pedestrian accidents before in that same area," said Earl Dayton, a longtime resident of Maliu Street, who added that at least 15 kids a day use the crosswalk where the boy was hit to get to and from the park.

Police are looking for a white vehicle in the incident.

Witnesses could not provide any more details about the car.

It was headed toward the back of Kalihi Valley when it hit the 6-year-old, who remained at The Queen's Medical Center yesterday, police said.

The incident came about 12 hours after a 12-year-old boy was hit at Kamehameha IV Road and Lakoloa Place while on his way to school. The boy was first listed in guarded condition, but has since been upgraded. Yesterday afternoon, he had not yet been released from the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, police said.

The driver who hit the boy was arrested for driving without a license.

Police Sgt. Lloyd Sanburn, of the Kalihi station, said the back-to-back accidents should spur drivers to drive safer and keep a lookout for walkers.

"They just need to slow down and drive defensively," he said.

Residents agreed.

And people who live around the scene of the accident involving the 6-year-old boy say the city should do more to improve safety at the site. They said there have been a number of accidents and close calls at the crosswalk.

In November 2006, 61-year-old Russell Ventura was killed on Kalihi Street at Machado Street — just a few blocks from Maliu Street — after he was hit by a car, then struck a second time by a pickup truck. The accident happened at 6 a.m., and the driver of the car said he didn't see the victim.

Marie Calantoc, who has lived in the area for about 20 years, said speeding is rampant on Kalihi Street — the only route into Kalihi Valley — and drivers are usually too distracted by the curves and hills of the road to look out for pedestrians.

"They speed quite a bit," she said yesterday.

There are two fluorescent pedestrian warning signs pointing to the crosswalk where the 6-year-old was hit. But the crosswalk is just beyond a blind curve, which gives drivers little room to look for pedestrians and stop. The crossing also does not have a signal or a stoplight. It is similar to several other crosswalks found on a good portion of lower Kalihi Street.

Aurelia Tiburcio, who lives near Maliu Street, heard the evening accident and rushed out to help. She said she saw the boy lying on the pavement with his head in his mother's lap. It is unclear whether his mother was with him when the accident happened, or if she came out afterward.

Tiburcio said the boy suffered a large gash to his forehead and other injuries. She added that the street was so dimly lit Monday night that she turned on her garage lights so that paramedics and police could see better.

The accident comes as Kalihi Valley residents and leaders have been pushing state and city officials to improve pedestrian safety on the roadway, where many kids and elderly residents walk to school or to bus stops.

But financial constraints have stalled progress.

City officials have said there are no immediate plans to address the roadway. And a bill to get state funding to improve the city roads (partly for pedestrian-friendliness) did not make it far in the past legislative session.