January 11, 1:52 PM
The security gates at my buddy Schultz’s apartment community seem like they’re always broken and have been since he moved into the place almost three years ago. Every time they fix them, something happens and they’re suddenly non-operational again.
He asked me the other day, “You’re the expert. Why can’t they just keep them fixed?”
The answer is simple. First of all, I had to make sure he knew that I am hardly an expert…I just play one on TV. But more importantly maintaining security gates is Expensive with a capital “E.”
The truth of the matter is that the gates go down for a number reasons ranging from general malfunctions to weather to just being old and run down. In most of these cases the apartments are able to get them functioning without much down time.
However, many other times the gates go down because someone…who apparently doesn’t understand how an automatic gate works or tries to recreate a scene from an action movie car chase…runs their automobile into the gates.
Perhaps they believe that the gates aren’t opening quickly enough and impatiently speed through only to clip the edge and knock it off its tracks. Or maybe their foot slipped off the brake as they were waiting patiently in front of the gate for someone to buzz them through. Or it could have been that they forgot their code and thought, “I’ve got a gas chugging tank of a sports utility vehicle. I’ll just force my way through.” Or…perhaps they were really drunk and shouldn’t have been driving around in the first place.
However a resident or a visitor damages it, the cost of repairing the gate in many cases is paid by the damager or their insurance company. Video surveillance is a fortunate tool for a community to find out who decided to play Dukes of Hazzard with their security gate and who they should seek to pay for the repair.
Three times in my last apartment the gates went down because a resident had attempted to enter the EXIT ONLY gate. Signs are there for a reason. Pay attention and abide by them…please.
Honestly, there’s no easy way to answer Schultz’s question and it’s answer will very from community from community. But one sure fact is that when they’re working…security gates are a really awesome feature to have at your community. They do really well at keeping out the riff-raff and making things a little safer around your humble abode for you, your family, and your pets. Not to mention that they keep uninvited and unEXpected guests from popping in to say hello because they “were in the area.”
Vote “No” on Running into Gates!