After a car lost control going through a newly-built roundabout and flew into a drainage ditch filled with rushing water, there are questions about whether the accident could have been prevented.

On Monday morning, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News morning co-anchor Chris Egert returned to the scene and saw that construction crews had built a temporary wooden fence between the sidewalk and the running water below.

               Just a few days earlier, the old fence was blown apart by a vehicle going through the new roundabout at Peasley Canyon Road and Peasley Canyon Way near Auburn.   

               The car jumped the curb and landed upside down in the water.  The driver had to be rescued and taken to Harborview.

The traffic circle had opened less than two hours before the accident.

               With her son in hand, neighbor Anna Pagel expressed her concerns.

"The speed limit is 40, and people come flying down that hill at 45 or 50 miles per hour,” said Pagel.

               King County says it built the roundabout to slow people down, but Pagel says that's not happening.

"A lot of us in the neighborhood just feel that it is a big waste of money.  They should have just left it alone," said Pagel.

               Driver Sheral Bailey thinks there needs to be a guardrail installed.  As it is now, the only thing standing between the road and the water below is a sidewalk, with a 6-inch curb. 

"It's scary,” said Bailey.

There is a new guardrail on the other side of the roundabout.

"I would look over the edge and think ‘Oh my gosh, if you were to slide off there, you could really get hurt,’" said Bailey.

               Sheriff's investigators say preliminarily that speed was a factor in the incident and won't say much beyond that.

               A spokesperson for King County roads reports that a pedestrian handrail will go in, but there are no immediate plans to put in something that would stop a car from going over the edge.

               The county admits that could change, depending on the results of the investigation. 

Some of the people living nearby also expressed that they'd like to see flashing warning lights installed by the roundabout.

               Egert confirmed with the county that the lights are there, but they currently don't have power, so they were not flashing at the time of Friday's accident.

               The driver of the car remains hospitalized in serious condition.

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