Things almost went very badly wrong on Monday evening on Sportlaan near Erasmus Sports Centre. After arriving to collect her children from hockey training the mother, her BMW and her children almost landed in the pond when turning.

Luckily, the car came to a standstill balanced on the concrete edge, with one wheel still on the grass and the other above the water. A car recovery service was called to pull the vehicle back onto dry land. According to Erasmus Sport Director, Jon de Ruijter, the mother and children were ‘shocked but unharmed’. What the current state of the car is, is not known.

bmw vijver sportlaan
Image credit: Jon de Ruijter

According to De Ruijter the incident shows ‘how urgent the situation on Sportlaan is’. De Ruijter: “In the evenings it is one of the busiest areas on campus. But it’s narrow, dark and leads to a dead end. And as there are so many parked cars, there’s hardly any room to manoeuvre.” Lorries from suppliers regularly have to reverse the entire length of the road to make their exit. “It’s certainly not the first time a hockey mum or father has had problems manoeuvring”, said De Ruijter.

De Ruijter is convinced that the situation will improve once the new multi-storey car park opens at the end of Sportlaan. “At least then there won’t be any cars parked along Sportlaan.”