Automating a gate changes it from normally open to normally closed.
In the UK, there is a culture, often amongst the more mature, suggesting that automatic gates indicate that you’re lazy. As a result, gates are often installed without motors.
For the first few weeks, when the new gate owner comes home, he diligently gets out of his car that he’s parked on the busy road he lives on to open his new gates.
Eventually, the dangers of this exercise, a desire to stay dry when it’s raining and warm when it’s cold, plus general boredom with the whole thing mean that the gates get left open.
One day, the family leaves for their holiday with the intention of closing the gates while they’re away. So, with the car full of luggage and kids, our manual gate owner tries to close his seized gates. After a great deal of struggling, he eventually gets them shut only to realize that they’re never shut, so burglars are bound to know he’s gone on holiday.
If you automate gates, they are normally closed and give you added security. They open when you come in or go out, and they close behind you when you’ve gone.
Automatically.