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Automakers tout a five second acceleration time as a great benefit. However, when it comes to force protection, stopping vehicles in five seconds is the performance measure for a device located just past the Army’s Pulaski Gate.
***image1***Pulaski Gate now has a separate traffic security system, located by the Auto Craft Skills area. It consists of square posts installed on either side of the road that, when activated, are capable of stopping vehicles with a horizontal bar that extends across the roadway.
“If incoming drivers fail to follow the guard’s instructions when passing through the ID card control point, the traffic barrier will be immediately raised to stop the vehicle from gaining further entrance into the installation,” said Maj. Jenneen Johnson, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Provost Marshal.
The barrier can be electronically raised to approximately 2.5 feet by the Ponds guards in emergency situations.
Since January of this year, there have been four incidents in which inattentive drivers or people with invalid identification caused the guards to activate the shield.
Major Johnson warns the security apparatus can cause “substantial vehicle damage” if motorists drive over it in the five second activation stage which can further result in “costly consequences.”
Traffic lights installed in both directions alert incoming and exiting motorists that the barrier is about to be raised. All vehicles, either entering or exiting toward the Pulaski Gate, need to continue to drive slowly and pay attention, Major Johnson emphasized.
Another recent security im-provement at the gate is the use of yellow cards issued by the guards to motorists who are unfamiliar with gate procedures. The cards, printed in both German and English, let drivers know that they need to proceed to the search area depending on which Random Antiterrorist Measure is being used at that time.
“Keeping our installations safe is a top priority, and by using a variety of force protection measures like the traffic barrier device and the yellow passes we can offer a higher level of security to all personnel and visitors coming onto our installation,” Major Johnson said.
