Yes, we do. The gates are much harder for us to see in the bright daylight. At night, the reflection from our headlights makes them very visible to us.

Led
 

A lot of other communities use flashing LED lights that are powered by Solar. This has been brought up numerous times for whatever reason the powers to be refuse to do it. Maybe the company that repair the arms have a strong connection in:MOJE_whot: The Villages who knows but yes still hard to see at certain times a day even if you have 2020.

And what does that tell you?????

It tells me that the driver needs to come to a full stop in front of every gate and not proceed until they have clearly identified that the gate is not blocking their path. If they can’t identify that, well, then they shouldn’t be driving.

Take personal responsibility and stop the excuses, bright light, cataract surgery, round gate arms, Bla Bla Bla.

My theory is that "stuff" is placed to slow traffic...so that you actually must come to a stop and take a second to look both ways before blasting thru a gate or intersection. "Traffic Calming Shrubbery" if you will<-I made that term up.

Seems like something to slow down the maniacs is a good idea. I could be wrong though!

Joe

You all know the gates are there. STOP !

How many gates do these communities have? Two, three, maybe four gates ? Why should everybody have to pay because a very small percentage of drivers are ignorant of the rules here and take down the gates. The areas around the gates clearly are a big hint that there will be a gate.

Why not add sirens as well ⁉️🙄

Gates in the Villages are on public roads. The District and the lawyers have claimed that due to this, the gates must follow the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. You want a more visible gate? Find a way to do that while staying in compliance with that manual then bring the suggestion to a PWAC meeting.

The gates are designed to break off at the bolts when they are impacted with enough force. This reduces damage to the vehicle impacting it and reduces damage to the gate and the mechanism that lifts it. When you find an approach to increasing the visibility of the gate, make sure it does not add weight. If weight is added to the gates then the whole system would need to be strengthened which could be costly to install, more costly to repair, and more damaging to vehicles.

OR, drivers could slow down and pay more attention at areas where they already know gates exist.

Please name the communities that have placed flashing lights on their gates. I want to stay far far away from them.

Bill,
If you continue to use common sense, logic, and facts, you may get banned from this thread...

Gate Arms
 

I've also thought that perhaps using the newer more visible fluorescent lime green (like the school signs elsewhere) would be a better choice... and yes, the arms come off all the time because people knock them out...but they now have to pay for doing that...so be careful!

The gates are often in the shade of large trees and therefore hard to see, so orange paint plus reflectors at night should help. And I can't stand the idea that we can't fix this because we have ALWAYS done it this was, and regulations don't allow us to try new things. Damn the stupid regulations, lives are being lost, fix the DAMN things
. ......Are WE in charge of our lives in the Villages or are we controlled by stupid, useless regulation.
......It's a PROBLEM. So, TRY A new approach. Is that so radical?

I DO agree. We've lived in TV for nine years now, and well aware of the gates...

But there ARE times, esp at dusk - and shady areas - when it IS difficult to see the slim gate pole. We ARE all aging as well, and better safe than sorry. Anything to assist making gate arms a bit simpler to see under less-than-perfect conditions would be helpful.

This is why I agree.

Yeah! Or flashing lights like at RR crossings, that start flashing when a sensor detects an approaching vehicle.

I have heard people complaining for years, I never really understood how people could miss them... until the morning I went to pick up a friend near the Sea-breeze rec center and even with the visor and tinted window.... I did not see a thing, gate, gate arm, etc. Previous to that, I would have thought the problem was a bit hyped. I found out when the summer sun is straight on early in the a.m., everything is blotted out. Some have mentioned any kind of "fluttering" like fringe would help but maybe nothing is made that would actually stick on for long ?

Not being able to see a gate has happened to me on several occasions. The blaring sun is usually the culprit. But, as other posters have stated common sense tells you they are there. Slow down when entering, take the time to view your surroundings, (I find it easy to look for the red button), then proceed with caution.

Having trouble seeing the gates makes you forget that they are there. Is that it????? I'm having trouble understanding the issue.

For those who have trouble seeing the gates, do you have thes same trouble out on the roads with stop signs ? or even red lights ? Asking for a friend.

If you cannot see the gate arms just the way they are, you should not be driving.

About the same as those who've added super bright golf cart lights aimed up at every thing except the cart path blinding oncoming traffic and still can't determine they're in the middle of the cart path till they almost side swipe you.

Some things to consider:
- Optic green is well known to be more easily seen, especially at night, than red, yet, the gates use reflective red tape for visibility rather than optic green.

-Optic Green tape does not weigh more than red tape

-Yes, we Villagers know about the gates and should be able to anticipate their location, however, good traffic design does not assume every driver to be a local. Non-residents also use these public roads, (that's why they are called "public roads").

It seems that an easy step to take to make the signs more visible would be to employ the Optic-Green reflective tape. Will it solve the problem 100%? No, of course not. But that is not the benchmark for a reasonable improvement.
Would it be cost effective? I believe it would. Perhaps that's why the red firetrucks in TV have the stuff on their bumpers.

If you are unable to see the very large fire truck in front of you with all its reflective coatings and lights, is a strip of green tape on the bumper going to make a difference?

It has been said in several meetings that the gates at the entrances must follow the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). I believe these gates are governed by section 2B.68 of that manual. Find the manual, read the section, determine whether Optic-Green reflective tape is permitted, then come to a PWAC meeting with that information and make the suggestion. Simple.

Thanks Coach! I'll get right on it!

Maybe. But it seems to me the problem is not so much the gates as it is the drivers. Again, if they can't see a gate, can they see your 4 year old grandchild? Should that person be driving? Should we put optical green tape on visiting grandkids???

From a practical point of view, I think it's more useful to deal with the world as it is, and not as we may envision a more ideal version.

Bad drivers aren't going away. No treatment of the gate arms will eliminate screw-ups. However, it is obvious that the more visible the arms are, the fewer times they will get hit. That's why law mandates a certain treatment of the gate to enhance visibility.
It is well known that Optic Green is more visible than red and white striping.

Hence, it seems in keeping with the intent of maximizing visibility, Optic Green would be a superior option over red and white striping.

Maybe. But given some of the drivers here, no matter what you do to the gate they will still get hit. Personally, I would like to see a tire puncture strip that only goes down when the gate goes up----the idiot who hits the gate should share in the inconvenience he has caused everyone else. Plus---it would stop those cyclists who just blow around the gate without even slowing, much to the chagrin of a cart crossing that had limited visibility and had to rely on whether the gate is up or down to determine if it is safe to cross

I think you are ready with your opinions…….go to the PWAC meeting.

The gates have gate arms unless they have been wiped out by a careless driver. Villagers should be aware that they are there. It's a fact of Villages life. Nuff said.

EVERY gate that I've gone through in TV there is a scanner you have to pass your entry card over to get the gate to open. How do you forget that you have to stop and do that???? There is a gate arm at every gate I've passed through in TV how do you forget that? At all the gates I've seen, the scanner is around 10 feet back from the gate. How can you not see a gate arm 10 feet in front of you? Don't give me the "sun was in my eyes" excuse. How do you see the road if the sun is in your eyes? Have you not heard of sunglasses? If you can't see the gate arm, it's time to turn in your driver's license before you potentially kill someone because you couldn't see them because the sun was in your eyes. Is your desire to drive more important than a life?

Politely dis agree and depends upon what is the background. Gate for Morse, south of 466 and headed south hard to see.

I am not blaming sun in my eyes (or any other persons eyes) but the exit gates at Morse and 441 are down a lot. The sun is glaring in the morning hours. I do have good eyesight. This gate is hard to see. It blends in with the background and does not open and close consistently. It would help to mark this gate so that it can be seen more easily. Love to have the contract to fix these gates.

Perhaps hard to see because there are no gates on Morse south of 466.

If you mean the gate on Morse heading south and approaching 466 then perhaps the large building in the center of the road should be a clue

But you are blaming the glaring sun being in your eyes. If you can't see the gate arm because it blends in with the background, maybe your eyesight isn't as good as you believe it is. Still doesn't address how you can forget there is a gate arm at the entrance and that you have to stop at the card reader. Take a little more time after you stop at the card scaner and concentrate on seeing the gate arm.

I fought getting hearing aids because I believed my hearing was OK. After pictures almost falling off the walls from vibration because of the high volume I had the television set at, I finally realized I was pretty deaf.

Hey, if we are going to rely on memory, why put any reflective material on at all?
If we are going to put reflective tape on, perhaps there is a reason to do so, and if so, perhaps the most visible of colors should be used. That would be optic green, not red.
But hey, let's just rely on memory, and the knowledge that "scanner=gate".

I've never hit a gate, and I've never come close to hitting a gate. But I have noticed that certain gates at certain times of day are hard to see.

That would have been an ideal suggestion for you to bring to the PWAC meeting this past Monday. Maybe next month.

No thanks. While it is obvious that Optic Green would be an improvement on the current red and white reflective material, the gates are, as far as I can surmise, in compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

While I may be willing to waste some of my time engaging in a conversation about the shortcomings of the current situation, and I am willing to express my disagreement with the attitude of "if you have trouble seeing the gates you should stop driving", I am definitely not willing to spend a lot of time trying to convince the bureaucracy to change something that they should already know they've screwed up, but will be unwilling to admit.

On my list of battles I'd be willing to pick, this one would be pretty far down the page.

The OP asked if others have trouble seeing the gates. It was a simple question and I gave a simple answer. No cataracts, no excuses, no bla bla bla. The gates are simply not as visible to me in daylight hours, as at night. Don’t understand why this answer would upset someone.

I don't know. Maybe someone feels that a driver who can't see a gate that they KNOW is there won't be able to see their 4 year old grandchild who pops out unexpectedly? Or is that too simple and blah, blah, blah???????