It was good to read in last Thursday’s edition that the Collectivité began verifying vehicle number plates. Many in St. Maarten believe a significant a number of motorists driving around with French plates actually reside on the Dutch side and that the plates are often either fake or outdated.
Following an 18-month awareness period authorities have started conducting roadside controls to ensure compliance. Strictly adhering to a vehicle registration system specific to Saint-Martin is to better regulate the matter.
This initiative is beneficial for the entire island. Up to now, one got the impression that members of the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM didn’t really know how to check French plates. In practice they were usually ignored.
The latter helped opened the door to people misusing them to evade paying Dutch-side road tax, as the chance of getting caught was relatively small. It would be interesting to see whether these now show up to get a Dutch-side plate as a result of the French-side exercise.
The island consists of two countries, each with its own rules in this regard. However, their inhabitants share the public roads on both sides of the open border.
It would thus be good to provide the two police departments with each other’s numberplate control systems, to effectively tackle abuse. After all, there ought to be at least some assurance that motorists of either side pay at least a fair share to their respective governments for upkeep.
