It's 2:30pm on a weekday at Olive Street and Victory Bouelvard. Stop sign in hand, whistle at the ready, crossing guard Dianne Annis surveys the traffics.

I've never heard so many horns in my life," she said. "People are so agitated. Sometimes I think this is a speedway.

But when the green hand shows up on the traffic signal, Annis looks both ways, blows her whistle and walks over to escort the young, the old and the disabled. She holds up her stop sign like a knight's shield.

It's all in a day's work for the 25 crossing guards at 24 Burbank intersections who started last month with the new school year.

In her first two weeks on the job, Annis saw two minor accidents and had to escort a stranded elderly woman who unwittingly crossed during a "don't walk" signal.

As she stands in a fluorescent safety vest in front of a Jiffy Lube, a pickup truck creeches as it accelertes around a car. Shortly after, a driver vigorously talks on a cell phone, inching his way over to make a right turn.

But Annis is ready.

Burbank crossing guards train during the summer at the toughest intersections, and in a city in which police said traffic is increasing around schools, crossing guards are well aware of the hazards. Not only are they vulnerable to accidents, but to public ridicule.

Sometimes crossing guards are the recipients of inappropriate gestures and are yelled at, said guard supervisor Nancy LaPrath. Drivers who simply fail to stop or try to round a corner before a guard steps off the curb are common.

Luckily, crossing guards are patient, LaPrath said.

The rewards seem to outweight the frustration for the guards, most of whom are retired. Naide Schweigert found her niche. She's been a crossing guard for 25 years, 12 at Mariposa Street and Clark Avenue near Walt Disney Elementary School.

Schweigert, 63, who once was a supervisor for Los Angeles County's welfare office, said she took the job years ago to find something to do.

"It's very satisfying," she said. "You get to know the kids and they get to know you, just like a teacher. I have children . . . who I cross now, whose parents I crossed when they were in kindergarten. Same school!"