A car was completely submerged in the Melrose Canal Thursday night at the intersection of Beverly Drive and South Melrose. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Miami Springs Police closed off the area to allow for a vehicle recovery.
Ironically, it was almost a year ago, on Thanksgiving Day 2022, when a man lost his life after submerging a vehicle into the same shallow canal.
Thanksgiving Day Tragedy: Driver Dies After Car Submerges in Shallow Canal
Again, in last night’s case, nobody was hurt. The Canal itself is very shallow. However, this Canal has a known history of cars falling into the canal. It begs the question, should a barrier be added to prevent these accidents from happening?
Now, I think we can all agree, this canal looks great without a barrier. The metal guardrails are both an eyesore and a barrier making it difficult for some to fish and or enjoy walking near the canal. And don’t get me started about the North Royal Poinciana Guard Rail placed on the wrong side of the bike path. The guard rail blocks pedestrians and cyclists from accessing the bike path in one of the most idiotic county installations.
Barriers don’t have to be metal guard rails. Other barrier options include large rocks, scattered wooden posts like those along Peavey Dove Field, or even wooden posts.
What do you think? Should some type of barrier be added to this canal?
maybe placing short height speed bumps to make for slower driving these areas.Or also more of them reflectors on pavement,its easy to miss that the canal is there at darker times.tks
Nestor,
Thank you once again for being on top of these very local news stories.
About the barriers, I don’t think there should be for the reasons you stated first of all. Second, the question you posed – “Should a barrier be added to prevent these accidents from happening?” – has a faulty premise. The faulty premise is that the absence of a barrier is the cause of the car accidents. They are not. There is a cause, such as driver error, impairment, recklessness, faulty auto equipment, etc, but the lack of a barrier is not. A barrier would prevent cars from falling into the canal. That’s all. Accidents will still happen just without that consequence.
Considering how many and how often cars have been driven by these canals over the city’s history, this type of incident is very rare. The solution is, as it has ever been, safe driving – driving at a safe distance from the canal itself at a safe speed keeping one’s eyes on the road.
David, thanks for the kind words. I agree these incidents are rare. I despise the look of guard rails. I have long thought the same as you. People just need to be careful and drive carefully and these incidents won’t happen.
However, as I’ve gotten older, I worry more about my daughter, wife, or mom driving down the road and getting T-Boned by someone else’s carelessness and ends upside down in the canal. Yes, it would be a rare incident. And I’m confident the immediate neighbors would do everything they can to help anyone in the water. We live in an absolutely wonderful and caring community.
I just want us to think about adding barriers that can be aesthetically pleasing and cost-effective before the County or State imposes ugly guard rails on us.