Pembroke Farms

Warning, Danger Ahead!

Sep 21, 2000

What everyone needs to know about our Vehicle
Entrance Gates!

Residents should not be lulled into a sense of false security by the appeal of our freshly painted gates. These heavy steel barriers are extremely dangerous to the careless and quite capable of inflicting injury or even death!

One hazard of automated vehicular gates is that some want to use the vehicular gate as a pedestrian walkway. This creates two hazards. First, pedestrians are in the traffic lane and in danger of being struck by a car. Secondly, the vehicle gate operation is not designed for pedestrian traffic. Our gates have sensors designed to detect vehicles not pedestrians. Any pedestrian, young or old, who chooses to walk through the gates is in danger of being crushed by the gates.

Children have been observed using a directory entrance code to stroll through the gates after school. This places them directly in the path of vehicles hurrying off Babcock. They also face the potential of becoming entrapped by the gates. Each parent is solely responsible for instructing his or her children about the potential dangers of the vehicle gate. The only acceptable means for children entering the Farm is by way of the pedestrian safety gate specifically designed for this purpose.

Some children play a dangerous game of "chicken" with the gates. Chicken is played by waiting until the last possible second to jump through the gates before they close. These steel gates are not designed to stop upon contact with soft tissue, such as flesh or bone. Deaths have been reported when pedestrians become entrapped in vehicular slide gates.

Cars, especially of visitors, are trying to "beat the gates," by tailgating behind a resident just as the gates are closing. Please inform visitors these vehicle sensors are subject to fail at anytime and without warning. If the vehicle sensors fail, that vehicle may be hit.

Do not allow your car to straddle the gate. In the case of several cars waiting to turn onto Babcock, we suggest waiting until you can move through the gate in one continuous motion. Again, in the case of a sensor failure, your undetected car could be severely damaged.

We thank you and wish you many safe years to come, here on the Farm!