A Manatee County mother is questioning the safety of Canal Road in Palmetto after her daughter was involved in an accident.

  • Woman says daughter's car ended up in ditch along Canal Road
  • Wants county to install guardrail along ditch
  • County spokesperson says officials will look into it

Leah Watson said her daughter was involved in a crash Saturday night while turning from 12th Street East onto Canal Road. Her daughter cut the corner and ended up in a deep ditch.

“I’m at a friend’s house, and I get a call from my daughter saying, 'Mom, I’ve flipped upside down, and my car is in a ditch and I can’t get out,' ”
Watson said.

Watson’s daughter was not injured. No one else was in the car with her.

Leah Watson wants the county to put protective measures in place after her daughter accidentally drove into the ditch Saturday night. (Leah Watson)

“We’re so lucky,” Watson said. “We‘re so blessed that it’s just a car. A foot further, and she would have hit the culvert. If there was water in there, she could have drowned upside down. No one would have saw her.”

Watson said a railing in the area where her daughter had the accident would have prevented her from going into the ditch.

“Why aren’t there guardrails?” Watson said. “At least in some sections where it is an obvious problem.”

County spokesperson Nick Azzara said officials are looking into the matter. He said this the second accident that they know of in this area in the past two years. As a result, he said, they’re now looking at making some changes.

“They’ll do an overall traffic assessment, not over a long period of time, just look at striping, resurfacing and some of those aspects,” he said. "From there, they’ll determine what improvements are needed. Most likely, the case would be installing a guardrail.”

Until then, Azzara warns motorists to use extreme caution while on Canal Road.

Public Works estimates the cost to add guardrails and to make other improvements would be anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000.

Azzara said that if the county decides to move forward, they could have the work done by the end of summer.