The opening of Motorworld’s new state-of-the-art showroom in Cole Bay on Friday evening (see related story) was a big party that lasted considerably longer than planned. The latter may have had to do with a rather extensive list of speakers that understandably included representatives of all three major political parties.
Some have commented meanwhile that there is nothing to celebrate, as there are already too many cars on the island. Such thinking obviously fails to take into account jobs and business opportunities the construction project created not just for the company, but also its suppliers, etc.
In addition, there were several substantial donations to social organisations doing beneficial work on behalf of the community. In that sense the event was certainly a demonstration of good corporate citizenship.
Nevertheless, regular traffic congestion is a fact, especially during the tourism season. While efforts have been made to address the issue with infrastructural measures over the years, the question may be asked whether there is indeed a limit to the number of motor vehicles a relatively small island can absorb.
Earlier suggestions to place a maximum on the number of rentals were not well-received, chiefly because this would be a rather negative approach for a holiday destination characterised by visitors who like to go out and explore rather than stay in resorts. Moreover, any restriction on the Dutch side can easily be circumvented from the French side.
Important is that the open-border situation does not become an excuse to, for example, evade road tax. In the past a lot of people living and working in St. Maarten had French licence plates mostly because there used to be no comparable annual fee in St. Martin.
That has since changed, but one can still see numerous even older Dutch-side plates on the French side late at night, a clear indication that the persons involved reside there. Similarly, the use of French plates South of the border is prevalent.
Joint controls such as the one reported on in today’s paper can help tackle such practices. In this case 16 out of 48 motorists checked were fined, which means exactly one third was not in compliance.
As always, enforcement is the key.
