I see that every so often in my neighborhood. I write to Community Watch and suggest that it creates a dangerous situation and the practice usually stops - at least for a while.

Oh, that's a good idea. I'll try it. I think the gate attendant thinks he is doing a very good job of getting the traffic through quickly - with nary a thought about why the gates are there in the first place.

I need our card to get through the gate with no red button that provides golf cart access to places like Lowel’s, WaWa, Walmart, Tropical Smoothie, BJ’s, and Aldi. Otherwise, the red buttons work just fine. The gate has no red button because it’s there to keep non Villagers from bringing their golf carts into the bubble (nothing prohibits them from entering by automobile).

That's interesting. This post from about a week ago, was from a user who does not live in The Villages, but says in his post that the cart paths are the only thing he wants out of The Villages, & made his cart street legal to get to them. He must come from a neighboring development on another side from the Lowes, WaWa, etc. entrance you mentioned. I wonder what ever does he want out of the MMPs if they are the ONLY thing he wants? Smells fishy to me.

04-02-2024, 08:45 AM
ChicagoNative ChicagoNative is offline
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We are also among the great unwashed who are not IN the bubble, but share a border on two sides of our community. We’re about a quarter mile from accessing a road with a golf cart lane. We used 24Hr. Cart Club to make ours street legal. 352-661-0562, Joey Faulkner. His is a family-owned company and they are fantastic to work with. They handled EVERYTHING for us, including pickup and drop off of the cart.

Yes, you will pay car insurance rates and their fee for doing whatever needs to be done to your cart. (Extra reflectors, wiper, etc). For us it was well worth it as the golf cart paths were the only thing we wanted out of the Villages. We’re not golfers and we don’t give a fig about “3000 clubs”. We figure that what we pay in insurance is worth NOT having to pay an inflated price for the house, a bond, CDD, etc.
With a street legal LSV, you are able to travel on any road with a speed limit of 35mph or less, and you can cross “the sixes” as long as you are at a light.

The City of Wildwood downtown redevelopment plan includes adding a cart path along 44A connecting to Brownwood.

Does that path go to Brownwood or to the intersection with Powell Rd? Since Powell Rd has a 35mph speed limit, golf carts would not be allowed to cross. It will be interesting to see if the cart path is ever built and whether it is allowed to connect to the Villages side of the street.

Actually no. Entry gates require you to stop and either swipe your card or push the red button. You have to stop with or without a card, unless a gate attendant opens it for you first.

There are a couple of newer gate attendants where I am, who leave the gate opened and wave at people coming in. Meanwhile, on the other side of the gate is Paradise Road and a 3-way stop-sign, where people are sitting in their vehicles trying to figure out when it'll be their turn to go. In front of the gate, is a stop sign. That stop sign is completely ignored when the attendant opens the gate and waves people through.

Meanwhile, residents using the "right lane" gate, will want to take a left after the gate onto Paradise, while visitors using the "left lane" gate will want to take a right after the gate onto Paradise.

By leaving the visitor gate open all the time without consideration of traffic at the resident gate, it opens up the opportunity for crashes. It's even more harrowing when you're walking up Paradise from the postal station, on the correct (left) side of the road, and have to walk across that entry where people coming from the left gate are heading toward you, people coming from the right gate are going straight, the car in front of you is hoping to take a right while the car on the right of you wants to go out the gate.

And then - one of those people coming in from the gate that the attendant leaves open, decides they're going to stop all traffic by stopping to let you walk across. But the OTHER guy in the other lane wasn't planning on stopping (since why should he, he doesn't have a stop sign, he's already gone through the gate). And you just stand there waving everyone on and hoping they'll get out of your way so you can continue your walk and get home before the fire ants start climbing up your ankles.

Sounds like the two gates on Morse just north of 466. The gate attendants simply stagger the cars going through the two gates, sending the cars through as fast as possible without leaving breaks for the golf carts that need to pass in front of the automobile traffic. Wouldn’t it be nice if the gate attendants left some space between the automotive traffic every three or four cars for a couple of golf carts to crossover! It’s a real issue during busy season weekdays when the traffic at that spot is congested. I suppose it’s asking too much of the gate attendants to periodically turn their head around and check to see how long the golf cart backup is behind them?

correct Well of course not, LOL, we asked the same question a long time ago...LOL ! But, even though everyone "else" (non residents) breezes through actually faster than residents, you have to admit the "visual" makes quite an impact on the vanity of perspective residents. Makes those of us who can't afford the expensive of a private community at least "feel" like we are among the "elite", LOL ! It would be nice if, like some developments, you did not HAVE to purchase them. Had a single friend buy here and at closing they made her BUY TWO even though she adamantly stated she did not want "a spare" and did not want to pay for two. But that's the rule she was told, right on her papers at closing, $100, TWO passes ! Could really add up to real money, and it's probably needed judging by how many times we go in and out of our village and and see a man, or men, working on gates that have been driven through while DOWN ! ? We definitely see this once a week, not exaggerating. Personally I don't think, no matter how much it costs in repairs, that will ever change, it's been a sure winner for sales so why change when it works so well.

I've never written about that on social media, but you really "HIT THE NAIL on the head" as they say, I have never gone that path in auto or car and not said those very same words to myself... WHY, WHY, WHY.... are the actually waiting until the first fatality to change things ? ?

Often wonder if rolling down automatic windows thousands of times more often than people who live in ordinary developments would need to, turns out to be expensive for residents, maybe most trade cars before a window would ever fail, but I'm sure it's not an inexpensive repair !

Bingo, you get first prize. It's been a winning advertising illusion since the 1960's, don't think it's going away even if pass prices or amenity fees need to be raised.

I have a cloned sticker on my outside mirror which I made myself with a 20 dollar device bought from Amazon. No need to power down the window.

Absolutely, and many manned gates hold up residents trying to get to their homes while signaling general traffic to go through for some time. Not that I don't realize traffic on main roads like 466 can't be backed up forever, but then you have to ask WHY at the (unmanned) gate near the high school and library, are cars allowed to be backed up onto and even across 466, blocking everything, and so close together in a line that backs up for as much as a block on 466, that no golf carts can cross by the library, and no teachers, parents, or students can even exit the high school. What a nightmare, a place to be avoided and not just when school is out. Summers are a bit better, but not much.