[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

The gates here in The Villages have absolutely NOTHING to do with safety. They are there to slow traffic so golf carts can proceed at the gates. Personally, I would prefer the gates to be removed and let the golf cart drivers wait until traffic is clear to proceed. I drive a golf cart besides a car and willingly will wait for traffic to clear to proceed on my way.

Slowing cars so that golf carts can more SAFELY cross has nothing to do with safety?


Cars coming off the round-a-bouts will exit at 35 miles (or more) per hr. You could be halfway across (making sure the coast was clear), with no one coming and get t-boned by a car coming off the circle. I would bet the farm that if you remove the gates that there will be a significant increase in accidents...

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

I'm here since 2009 and I never thought those gates are for security. There is a red button anyone can push to enter the villages. Where is the security in that? There is none. Those gates are to slow traffic down so golf carts can proceed at the gates.

Exactly. Why you continue to promote removing them is ponderous...

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

Slowing cars so that golf carts can more SAFELY cross has nothing to do with safety?


Cars coming off the round-a-bouts will exit at 35 miles (or more) per hr. You could be halfway across (making sure the coast was clear), with no one coming and get t-boned by a car coming off the circle. I would bet the farm that if you remove the gates that there will be a significant increase in accidents...

Oops. My bad. I meant "security", not "safety". You are right about cars exiting the RABs. I guess the gates are a must to keep people from speeding into the villages.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Oops. My bad. I meant "security", not "safety". You are right about cars exiting the RABs. I guess the gates are a must to keep people from speeding into the villages.

[juddfl]

The gates are not a security protection, but are meant to slow traffic down. I was told that by our sales person in 2001. You might be coming off a rode that is 35 mph and the gate slows you down. When you enter it is 20 mph. Also, these roads are public roads and the gate person can not refuse to let you in. The county owns the roads, not The Villages. I sometimes go in the attendants side just to say, hello. I think they enjoy a little conversation from the boredom. I even have made a casual friend from doing that.
Now, the roundabout are also meant to slow you down. Other communities are starting to put in roundabouts for the same reason. If we didn't have them, there would be a lot more speeders. Slow down and enjoy life.

[golfnut]

Originally Posted by starflyte1

Excuse me, I have perfect eye sight and have never had a speeding ticket!

As I said before, some of the gates blend into the landscaping, traffic lights and tail lights!

If you can't see a gate because of landscaping, traffic lights and tail lights you definitely should not be driving!!

[pokeefe45@aol.com]

It's already been said a few times, but the gates are valuable for traffic 'calming', not for security. If any of you were driving around in the day or 2 after Ian, when the gates were purposely put down, you may have experienced someone blowing into a village at 40 miles an hour as a result of no gates up. Not fun.
Also-the amount of gates down right now, is NOT because of all of them being hit by cars, or because the 'new' vendor can't get to them to be repaired-but, again as it's been said before, the card readers on a lot of gates are having issues integrating with the new software being used. It's an IT issue, not a lack of attention by anyone in the Villages.
Lot of good ideas being passed around here, but I'm not so sure that we don't have the most effective system in place now, at least once the gates are all as operational as they were before.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by pokeefe45@aol.com

It's already been said a few times, but the gates are valuable for traffic 'calming', not for security. If any of you were driving around in the day or 2 after Ian, when the gates were purposely put down, you may have experienced someone blowing into a village at 40 miles an hour as a result of no gates up. Not fun.
Also-the amount of gates down right now, is NOT because of all of them being hit by cars, or because the 'new' vendor can't get to them to be repaired-but, again as it's been said before, the card readers on a lot of gates are having issues integrating with the new software being used. It's an IT issue, not a lack of attention by anyone in the Villages.
Lot of good ideas being passed around here, but I'm not so sure that we don't have the most effective system in place now, at least once the gates are all as operational as they were before.

Curious where you got that information since that was not what I understood from the PWAC meeting last week.

In any case, there is progress. The Hillsborough gate was back in place last night.

We don't have the best system in place now; the system is fine and it is effective but it is not the best. Perhaps the new software and new controller boards will provide a path to an incremental upgrade. What we don't need is to pay for a wholesale replacement of over 200 gate mechanisms or a one-shot upgrade that takes out every gate at once.

[asianthree]

Today car in front of us the gate fell off all by itself, as it was lowering from previous car. They got out moved the bar to the side.

So guessing some Gates are just taking a vacation from the" ups and downs of their job"

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

The gates here in The Villages have absolutely NOTHING to do with safety. They are there to slow traffic so golf carts can proceed at the gates. Personally, I would prefer the gates to be removed and let the golf cart drivers wait until traffic is clear to proceed. I drive a golf cart besides a car and willingly will wait for traffic to clear to proceed on my way.

I strongly suggest you drive your golf cart down to St Charles..You can experience your Hope gates are removed.

All Three Gates are down. Cars are not even slowing down coming from the round about, and exiting on the other side.

You have no chance of crossing safely right now, if one lane doesn’t have a car, the other lane has a cars completely ignoring the stop signs. While waiting trying to cross with at least 10 carts on each side trying to “frogger “ their way across.

Watching cars not even slowing down, passing the stop signs. Every car who is driving through STCharles gate knows carts are trying to cross, seems to either to not care, or it’s their right to make sure that cart isn’t going to get in their way.

We were going down to Brownwood, but chose to turn around, for our own safety. Hoping all golf carts once it gets dark, will make it home safely.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by asianthree

I strongly suggest you drive your golf cart down to St Charles..You can experience your Hope gates are removed.

All Four Gates are down. Cars are not even slowing down coming from the round about, and exiting on the other side.

You have no chance of crossing safely right now, if one lane doesn’t have a car, the other lane has a cars completely ignoring the stop signs. While waiting trying to cross with at least 10 carts on each side trying to “frogger “ their way across.

Watching cars not even slowing down, passing the stop signs. Every car who is driving through STCharles gate knows carts are trying to cross, seems to either to not care, or it’s their right to make sure that cart isn’t going to get in their way.

We were going down to Brownwood, but chose to turn around, for our own safety. Hoping all golf carts once it gets dark, will make it home safely.

The post that you quoted was not stated correctly by me. My bad. I meant to say the gates in The Villages have nothing to do with SECURITY. Sorry I misstated my intention.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

The post that you quoted was not stated correctly by me. My bad. I meant to say the gates in The Villages have nothing to do with SECURITY. Sorry I misstated my intention.

"Personally, I would prefer the gates to be removed and let the golf cart drivers wait until traffic is clear to proceed."

That's the part that Asianthree is responding to. You want the gates down, go see what happens when they are gone.

[Babubhat]

They also take a photo of vehicles. Helps with crime

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

"Personally, I would prefer the gates to be removed and let the golf cart drivers wait until traffic is clear to proceed."

That's the part that Asianthree is responding to. You want the gates down, go see what happens when they are gone.

I have seen what happens when the gates are gone. It works just fine for me for the gates I routinely go through. No problems that I can see when the gates are removed for storm preparation. The two gates I use all the time are the Mallory gate and the Odel Circle gate. They may not be very busy, however, compared to other gates though.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

I have seen what happens when the gates are gone. It works just fine for me for the gates I routinely go through. No problems that I can see when the gates are removed for storm preparation. The two gates I use all the time are the Mallory gate and the Odel Circle gate. They may not be very busy, however, compared to other gates though.

Those gates sure work very hard going up and down hundreds of times a day