Gates aren't just rural decorations. They are markers that serve to delineate the main road from the logging roads and warn people. Closed they demand that you get out to open them. The difference between main and logging roads is not as clear as it might be on curving roads after the logging trucks have covered the main drag with mud. In the cold, wet and with the windows a bit fogged the difference is even less apparent.

I have seen this in various mountains in bad weather and even down here in Florida. I didn't always live down here. Of course getting lost in the sticks of Florida generally doesn't get you killed. As long as the gators or mosquitoes don't get you. The locals don't need or like the gates. Local rangers spend time closing them. Locals know the roads so they are seen as a PITA by people who don't know or care. It is the people traveling through that need them.

Used to be country folks looked out for each other and were willing to make minor sacrifices to help keep people on the right track. You open a gate you close it behind you.

The effect of leaving the gate open was to set a trap. That people are unwilling to accept the need to protect others by exercising what used to be considered common courtesy just shows how the rural culture has deteriorated.