The Warren County coroner has initiated a campaign to place guardrails along Augusta Bottom Road where a Washington teen died in October after her car slid off the road into a lake. Coroner Roger Mauzy met Wednesday with family members of Ella J. Neier, 16, the teenager who was killed, at the site of the accident. Mauzy was the one who pronounced Neier dead at the scene. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Neier was driving where the St. Charles County paved portion meets the gravel section of the road in Warren County when her car ran off the road. "If there had been a guardrail there, she would have bounced off that and landed in the field" opposite of the lake, Mauzy told The Missourian. "It's a killer right there. My heart goes out to the Neier family." Neier's aunt, Sheryll Berger, who has been pleading with Warren County officials since the accident for safety improvements along the road, agreed with the need for guardrails. "A guardrail would have saved her life. I don't care if I have to knock on every door from here to California, I will get that guardrail," she said. "No one deserves to die. She (Ella) was the best." Berger said she believes enough donations have been raised privately to pay for guardrails but worried that Warren County would not pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the safety barriers. County commissioners responded to Mauzy's campaign earlier this week, reiterating their stance that the section where Neier's car wreck occurred, while in Warren County, falls under the jurisdiction of the city of Augusta and is that city's responsibility to maintain. "If the city of Augusta wants to put them up, they can," Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said. "It's a county road, but we don't maintain that end of the road. They (Augusta) got funding in 1995 and they took it over." Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner agreed, adding, "he (Mauzy) needs to visit with the city of Augusta." While the road was closed for less than a week in mid-November after another fatal crash involving Joseph S. Volmert, 38, Washington, occurred on the St. Charles County side, Mauzy said the lack of action on the road is because of politics. "This can be stopped so let's stop it," he said. "Politics is involved and the red tape needs to be cut. "People say there may not be a legal obligation to (make safety improvements), but there is a moral and ethical obligation to protect the people who drive on this road. It just irritates me," Mauzy said. "How many deaths is it going to take? Would it had been different if it was one of the commissioner's daughters?" Mauzy asked. Neier's mother, Dawn Tucker, Wednesday echoed the need for safety improvements along the road. "I'd like to see a warning sign (cautioning drivers of) danger ahead and that there are deep ponds on both sides," Tucker said. Tucker, who called herself an experienced driver, said even she has fishtailed while crossing from the paved section to the gravel part of the road. She said she believes her daughter did the same the night of the crash and that it was the first time Ella drove on the road. Berger said shortly after her niece's death, she spoke with Bill Miller Sr., Missourian publisher, after reading an editorial in the newspaper that stated a guardrail would have saved her life. She thanked Miller for his advice to approach Warren County and ask officials there to do something about it. "If the next door I knock on is closed in my face, then I will go to Jefferson City," Berger said, noting she will not give up her fight. Neither will Mauzy, who said, "I'm not going to stop campaigning. I'm going to be boisterous and loud about this issue. I'm not afraid to tackle the commission. The family has suffered enough and it turns my stomach." Mauzy, who has been a paramedic for nearly 30 years and the Warren County coroner since 1997, had also campaigned for steel cable barriers along major highways to prevent crossover accidents. He was honored in August 2010 as the Missouri Emergency Services Association (MEMSA) Paramedic of the Year for his commitment to getting the safety barriers erected.