GPS Routing

Hello,

Our neighborhood connects two major roads and is a shortcut between the two. The issue is that we are a gated community and have an alarming amount of tailgaters/ trespassers using our road as a cut through. Looking into the matter, I found that Google Maps does NOT direct traffic through our community. However, I believe other GPS systems may be doing so. Has any other community had an issue like this? I have searched for a way to report this but have only run into confusing webpages that don't seem to satisfy our needs. Any suggestions?

My guess is that GPS has little to do with this. There are just a lot of wise-asses out there who think they can take a shortcut through someone else's property.

Having worked in a number of secured areas one of my observations was that security systems are often defeated by politeness. We hold doors open for people we do not know because we don't want to be rude and slam the door in their faces. But if you are in a secured area, part of the job is ensuring that only those who are authorized may enter.

You might want to reduce the time your gate is open. I would caution you, however, that in the self-storage business the number one insurance claim arises from gates damaging cars. You may reduce the number of strangers coming in but you risk increased damaged claims from your own residents.

Another solution might be to install a stop sign inside the gate with a sign reminding residents to not let tailgaters in. They should remain stopped until the gate is closed. This will prevent unwanted tailgaters from entering.

The ultimate solution would be a live security guard at each gate to check each entrant's authority to be there.

Military installations handle automated gates just as Larry suggests. A vehicle entering/exiting pulls through the gate and stops immediately on the other side. The vehicle acts as a barrier until the gate closes on its own. A homeowner behind them will then have to wait for the gate to reopen (a minor inconvenience), but non-owners will not be able to get in.

Unfortunately, this system relies on cooperation from homeowners, but it's probably the only way to solve your issue without incurring the additional expense of a hired guard. In reality, there isn't much point of having the gates anyway if homeowners aren't willing to help keep unwanted vehicles out.

Get a map. If I ever had to rely on GPS or my cellphone for directions then I'd consider that a failure.

Reminds me of a story from L.A. Seems there was a website to help navigate around traffic jams and suddenly homeowners in upscale neighborhoods found THEIR streets jammed with cars using this service to bypass clogged expressways. To put a stop to it, the neighbors banned together and started reporting massive traffic jams on their streets to the service forcing the service to route people in other directions.