Ted-Jan,

Just a thought, but there was recently an article in the paper about the murder of a young woman on the French side of the island.

Do you think the four gendarmes might be looking for someone specific as opposed to just random motor vehicle infractions and doing the random stops as a means to an end? I go a little crazy when people speculate idly so I really shouldn't be doing it myself but I'm thinking it is a possibility? No?

On another note, being stopped in one of these shouldn't be a big deal to any of us, particularly if they take one person off the road that shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car.

An with regard to the other part of your comment, I don't pretend to know the logic or politics of what they do on the island or why, and as a visitor, I really don't feel it's my place to comment one way or the other.

Often on the Dutch side the police will run controls looking for all kinds of things not just inebriated drivers or those not wearing their seat belts or chatting on their cell phones. Just sayin'........