[DavidK]

I recently noticed that many vehicles will drive through a village entry lane that is missing a gate arm and completely ignore the temporary STOP sign that has been placed there until the gate arm is repaired. The arms are not there to fool persons into thinking The Villages is a gated community but to slow and stop traffic and allow carts, bikes, and pedestrians to cross more safely. The STOP sign sure looks real to me and I suppose a person could get a ticket for not stopping.

[LAFwUs]

>>The STOP sign sure looks real to me and I suppose a person could get a ticket for not stopping<<

The Villages does not have its own codified traffic laws afaik.
It may have "rules" "regulations" and certain "signage" - as a means of traffic control (ie: liability reduction), which may fall under or was probably established congruent with county codes of that specific area. This generally keeps people behaving...or not as the case may be. Rules however are not the same as actual laws.

From a traffic sign enforcement standpoint however;
A temporary (non City Gov/DOT approved & installed) stop sign (or any traffic sign for that matter), on what would be considered private (district) property (under legal definition) would only have some force of law behind it, if it is on a major roadway - as I understand FL law.
The definition of "major roadway", could be subject to debate or at least assessment. It therefore could be easily argued that many village entrances/exits would not fall under that specific legal definition and thus the sign itself has no actual police enforcement behind it - if a driver doesn't stop.

There might be a citation issued if an accident where to occur, due to a drivers failure to yield / stop and LE responded to that incident. No different than any accident on an uncontrolled 2 or 4 way stop, in regards to legal right of way, pedestrian endangerment, etc. as these apply regardless of official traffic control measures.
My educated guess is, it could be argued out in court - if - it just the entrance to a village, off a main arterial & perhaps more importantly, the stop sign was in fact "temporary" in nature - due to a faulty or missing (already established) traffic control device - again, all on non-city property.
This is just my back of the napkin response as an old, former, out of state LEO now living here.
As we all know the villages and its being a district, fit into a hard to figure out, rather bizarre slot when it comes to applicable legalities and they may have policies & procedures in place with the applicable county sheriffs that over ride the norm.

Like it or not, the question boils down to one of actual enforcement.
How many of these signs exist in the whole of The Villages? There could be hundreds.
They are I'd wager, all but impossible to proactively enforce & if so, then by whom and to what end?
People know this is a non-starter or simply don't care, as they have places to go and people to see.
8 whole seconds to come to complete stop before proceeding 1 or 3 more blocks home, is simply asking to much. :/

[Altavia]

I don't understand why there are no permanent stop signs at most gate entrances?

[GpaVader]

The reality of it is this. Why have the gates at all? If its traffic control, you can try a stop sign. But to have a gate and its maintenance is just silly. If someone wants to get into the community, they only need to push the button so its not keeping anyone out and if they don't want to wait, I suspect they will just blow through the gate and then we have to pay for the repair. If you want to slow things down, put in a speed bump. Otherwise I'd say you are just wasting money putting the gates in. I understand on the existing areas but the new ones... Why spend the money....

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by GpaVader

The reality of it is this. Why have the gates at all? If its traffic control, you can try a stop sign. But to have a gate and its maintenance is just silly. If someone wants to get into the community, they only need to push the button so its not keeping anyone out and if they don't want to wait, I suspect they will just blow through the gate and then we have to pay for the repair. If you want to slow things down, put in a speed bump. Otherwise I'd say you are just wasting money putting the gates in. I understand on the existing areas but the new ones... Why spend the money....

History suggests your ideas have been tried and didn’t work, at least over the past twenty years I have been here.

[RICH1]

If people don’t stop for a Gate Arm, they will also disregard a Stop sign. Complete disrespect for authority..

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by GpaVader

The reality of it is this. Why have the gates at all? If its traffic control, you can try a stop sign. But to have a gate and its maintenance is just silly. If someone wants to get into the community, they only need to push the button so its not keeping anyone out and if they don't want to wait, I suspect they will just blow through the gate and then we have to pay for the repair. If you want to slow things down, put in a speed bump. Otherwise I'd say you are just wasting money putting the gates in. I understand on the existing areas but the new ones... Why spend the money....

Gates cause an actual pause in traffic, allowing golf carts and pedestrians to cross.

TV -IS- a golf cart community...

Stop signs? People roll thru those all of the time. Same with speed bumps. They may slow traffic a bit, but don't physically STOP it...

[MrFlorida]

When there is no gate, people just blast right through, stop sign be dammed.