The question was not whether an accident would happen, but when that accident would happen. Timo Renssen and other parents from the Polanenstraat in Halfweg have long feared for the safety of their children, who like to play in the playground in the street. Last Tuesday that fear turned out to be justified, because then Timo’s son William (10) was hit by a car.
Father pleads for threshold at playground in street Halfweg after son’s collision – NH News
He is now on his feet again, but William spent the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in the hospital. The damage: a mild concussion and a broken ankle.
“It could have ended much worse,” says his father Timo, who immediately took to the pen after the accident to address the unsafe situation in his street at the municipality of Haarlemmermeer.
He was not the only one: other residents of the Polanenstraat have also brought the, in their eyes, unsafe situation around the playground in the street to the attention of the municipality. To their surprise, they all received exactly the same response from the municipality. The accident was due to the driving behavior of the driver, and the municipality would not take any further action.
“They are still working a street away, so why couldn’t a threshold be placed here?”, Timo wonders in surprise. When NH asks the municipality for clarification, it turns out that they take the situation more seriously than the e-mail to Timo and other residents suggests.
“We are investigating how this accident could have happened and we will take appropriate action if necessary.”
William promises to pay more attention in the future. “But I hope something will change.”