Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier?

[Amanita]

http://www.ggbsuicidebarrier.org/default.asp

Here's the website for the Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier study, with information on the various proposals and issues surrounding construction of such a device.

On a personal level, how do you feel about a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge? All for it? Against it? Or somewhere in between?
Currently the top three contenders for a barrier are:
A net under the bridge
Adding something to the existing railing to make it harder to climb over
Removing the existing railing altogether and replacing it with something taller

And of course, the option to do nothing. The Bridge district says that its other methods, such as installing crisis phones and training workers in suicide detection and prevention have been successful in stopping as much as 70% of would-be bridge jumpers.

To me, option 3- removing the existing railing altogether is the most objectionable, since the existing railing is part of the bridge's Art Deco design, and a modern replacement most likely would not look right. The net sounds like it might be a good idea, if it could be made to be as unobtrusive as possible. The only problems with that might be people jumping into it for thrills, or people jumping, then crawling to the edge of the net and trying to jump off of that, if possible. The original safety net strung under the bridge was so tempting that Ironworkers had to be threatened with immediate dismissal should they jump into it on purpose.

[Nutterbug]

Don't compromise the bridge's aesthetics to "save" those who don't want to be around. Let Darwin take them.

[Reminiscence]

Don't compromise the bridge's aesthetics to "save" those who don't want to be around. Let Darwin take them.

I'd have to agree with this. I've gotten so used to seeing the bridge as it has been for a long time, that I would very much dislike to see it altered for these people. I would think that if they made it harder to jump off here, they'd just attempt it somewhere else anyway, so whats the point.

[northbay]

^ ppl who want to commit suicide will find a way, whether it be by a bridge

or a more effective method like by a gun

dont ruin the bridge with a barrier to save ppl who dont want to be saved (at least that way)

[BTinSF]

^^^I think the barrier is under consideration more for the bridge workers and "first responders" than for those who jump. I have repeatedly read that workers who see people jump and those who have to try to fish them out of the water or risk their own safety trying to talk them out of it are sometimes very traumatized by the experience--PTSD and all. It really shouldn't be an occupational hazard of a painter or welder on the GGB to have to cope with the suicidal.

[Nutterbug]

those who have to try to fish them out of the water or risk their own safety trying to talk them out of it are sometimes very traumatized by the experience

Wrong people for the job?

[BTinSF]

^^^I don't think so. I don't think I want somebody who's impervious to watching someone kill themselves in one of the "helping" professions. Plus the first folks on the scene--and sometimes the only ones there, because the person jumps before the police/EMT/Coast Guard folks can get there, are the bridge workers who surely should not have the ability to deal with this as part of their job description.

I know a little about this. I was/am a doctor and I've seen a lot including more than a few deaths. One thing I was NOT prepared for was to have to pronounce death on a person found hanging in a Navy barracks one time. He was still hanging there (and smelling because he'd been there a few days)--they wouldn't take him down until I said he was dead. Suicide is just ugly. :yuck:

[northbay]

so bt, r u saying u support such a barrier?

seems like a big cost only to 'shift' this social ill to another place - ppl wont stop committing suicide, this just means theyll do it some other way

like jumping over the barrier, or from the new bay bridge

how about spending that $ on social programs to help ppl with major psychological issues

[M.K.]

I am against the barrier. If people want to kill themselves it is ok jumping the bridge. It is a better way finishing like that than other method. If someone is decided surely to commit suicide, there is no another way to avoid, he/she/it would do in another way, jumping a building, medicaments and so on. Everyone is free to decide itself what to do with own life. It should not have barrier from other people avoiding, cause could be worse. That is democracy or not?

[BTinSF]

so bt, r u saying u support such a barrier?



No. I'm just saying my understanding is the concern of those who do support it is not only those who commit suicide themselves. I did some training in Occupational Medicine at UCSF and one part of it included a seminar with the bridge workers (some of us even got to go up on top of one of the GGB towers) in which the effects of the suicides on them was discussed at some length.

Anyway, I'd support it only if it did not adversely effect the appearance of the bridge or its performance in high winds or other stress conditions.

[deasine]

How many people actually jump off the bridge? It's not justifiable if the numbers are low (even if it was high, there are many other ways to die. I mean, would they install platform barriers on the BART just because of them?) I would be strongly against altering this international landmark.

[Amanita]

BTin SF, you got to go to the top of the Golden Gate's tower?
You lucky thing, you!
I want to do that so badly, I would not care if they made me sign a stack of waivers in my own blood. It would be worth it!

[Nutterbug]

^^^I don't think so. I don't think I want somebody who's impervious to watching someone kill themselves in one of the "helping" professions. Plus the first folks on the scene--and sometimes the only ones there, because the person jumps before the police/EMT/Coast Guard folks can get there, are the bridge workers who surely should not have the ability to deal with this as part of their job description.
Anybody who isn't a child should learn to overcome these psychologically traumatic situations. Heck even children, in places like Iraq and even some bad parts of the USA, don't have the luxury of being sheltered from this sort of thing.

Suicide is just ugly. :yuck:
So are elderly people dying from natural causes. Everybody goes eventually.

[Nutterbug]

BTin SF, you got to go to the top of the Golden Gate's tower?
You lucky thing, you!
I want to do that so badly, I would not care if they made me sign a stack of waivers in my own blood. It would be worth it!
Having the work obligation of dealing with a smelly rotting corpse kind of takes away from the thrill of it, no?

[BTinSF]

BTin SF, you got to go to the top of the Golden Gate's tower?
You lucky thing, you!
I want to do that so badly, I would not care if they made me sign a stack of waivers in my own blood. It would be worth it!

No--I'm a chicken and acrophobic. Some of the others did, though.

[BTinSF]

How many people actually jump off the bridge? It's not justifiable if the numbers are low (even if it was high, there are many other ways to die. I mean, would they install platform barriers on the BART just because of them?) I would be strongly against altering this international landmark.

From Wikipedia:

An official suicide count was kept, sorted according to which of the bridge's 128 lamp posts the jumper was nearest to when he or she jumped. The count exceeded 1,200 when the count ended in 2005, and new suicides were averaging one every two weeks. There were 34 bridge jump suicides in 2006 whose bodies were recovered, in addition to four jumps which were witnessed but whose bodies were never recovered, and several bodies recovered suspected to be from bridge jumps. The California Highway Patrol removed seventy apparently suicidal people from the bridge that year. Currently, it is said that a person jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge every 15 days. As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge