Lucia Rodriguez's friends say she didn't have to die -- and certainly not in Lake Austin. The ballet dancer drowned last week after accidentally driving her car off the boat ramp at Mary Quinlan Park.

Quinlan Park Road in Steiner Ranch abruptly ends at the ramp.

Travis County Parks District Manager Daniel Perry said officials are investigating the area and related issues.

"We're kicking around some ideas, possibly changing some signage, updating some signage, but really we don't have a lot of hard ideas being brought forth from the traffic engineers yet," he said. "They're still studying the situation."

Perry pointed out signage that already exists, but when News 8 staff drove the road, we found the ramp warning sign partially hidden by a speed limit sign. The only other warning is on the ramp itself. That's a little late if you're going too fast.

The county set up orange barricades in between the two points to force drivers to veer away from the ramp. They did that after Rodriguez's accident.

But why didn't the county act sooner, before Rodriguez died? After all, she's not the only one to drive into the lake.

In June, emergency crews had to pull a car out after its driver made the mistake. That driver survived. One firefighter said it has happened five or six times that he knows of.

Park visitors, like Christopher Lopez, even have their own stories.

"Other people that are not from this area, they'll come down and think it keeps on going, they'll nearly get in the water. Some lady actually got her truck put in there," Lopez said.

But the county claims it has heard of few other incidents and only now sees the problem.

Travis County officials said the reason there is no gate at the ramp is that it has to stay open 24 hours a day. They said construction of the ramp was partially funded through a federal grant. The grant stipulates the ramp must remain constantly open.