Golden Gate Bridge jumpers

[thalberg]

I just learned the most bizarre thing today.

Did you know that every 15 days on average, someone jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge?  Over 1200 suicides have happened on the bridge.  It's such a frequent site for it that the state is trying to figure out what to do about it, and they have already fitted the bridge with suicide hotline phones and people to patrol the bridge looking for jumpers. 

There was a movie about it called "The Bridge" where the directors actually filmed the bridge continuously for a year (they just set up the cameras and let them run I think)  and caught 24 suicides on camera, then interviewed the families of the jumpers.

Do you think this film "The Bridge" is the most morbid thing ever or not?

One compelling story from the movie was a of a man who wanted to die until he let go of the rail.  At that point he knew he did not want to die anymore, so he readjusted his body to have less impact with the water, and he survived.

[Petter]

That would explain this sign.

[pianolearner]

There is a place called 'The Gap' in Sydney which is infamous for suicides:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap,_New_South_Wales

I remember a very haunting image on the front page of a newspaper many years ago. It was a photograph of the gap taken from a distance by some tourists. They inadvertently had captured someone who had jumped and was about halfway down. 

[queenrock]

This is bad...
https://nynerd.com/suicide-hotline-golden-gate-bridge/

[thalbergmad]

There is a phone with a direct link to the Samaritans on top of Beach Head in England, to try and reduce the suicides.

I say if they want to jump, let them.

Thal

[ahinton]

There is a phone with a direct link to the Samaritans on top of Beach Head in England, to try and reduce the suicides.

I say if they want to jump, let them.

Who, the Samaritans?

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Unlikely, since they would be on the other end of the phone awaiting calls from prospective jumpers.

Thal

[0range]

Personally, I view this as a very polite suicide. Much better than blowing yourself away or hanging because nobody has to clean up after you. (Or do they have to fish the bodies out?)

[ahinton]

Unlikely, since they would be on the other end of the phone awaiting calls from prospective jumpers.

OK, so why don't you put on one of those jumpers but then desist from throwing yourself off that or indeed any other bridge?...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

If i jumped off a bridge, there would be another tsunami.

Thal

[ahinton]

If i jumped off a bridge, there would be another tsunami.

Thal

Agreed; all the more reason for you not to do that, then...

Best,

Alistair

[rc]

I read an article where the railway was upset over people jumping in front of trains, because they make the train conductors feel like murderers...  I think the motto they came up with was "use trees, not trains".  If somebody wants to die, at least they can be considerate about it.

I'm sure somebody has to fish bodies out of the rivers.  they might get tangled in a pier, or wash up on a beach somewhere.  That's just not good for tourism

[ahinton]

If i jumped off a bridge, there would be another tsunami.

...and it would surely have been a most sturdily engineered bridge, too...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I would only jump off an I.K.B bridge.

Not any old rubbish for me.

Thal

[ahinton]

I would only jump off an I.K.B bridge.

Not any old rubbish for me.

Thal

Well, for the benefit of those here (if any) who may not appreciate what you convey by your reference to "I.K.B", the 19th century British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was indeed a major figure in the construction of bridges, railways and the like in his day and I have little doubt that the constructions that survive under his name might just be of sufficient architectural strength to support you, although I'd once again add that I (and, I'm sure, most of the membership of this forum) would infinitely prefer that you do not put to the test the structural soundness of any of I.K.B.'s surviving bridges in order that you may leap therefrom to your whatever it may be...

I'd far rather that you even erected your own sturdily constructed bridge between Gravesend and Collegville than that you seek out any existing I.K.B. bridge and leap therefrom...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

OK then, i will find a T.T bridge instead.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

AH, did you ever meet Gordon Jacob?

[ahinton]

OK then, i will find a T.T bridge instead.

Would that be on the Isle of Man? No, please FIND whatever bridges you like (Frank ones would be a good start) but JUMP not therefrom, lest our forum risk losing one of its most notable ornaments...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

AH, did you ever meet Gordon Jacob?

Not sure of the intended context in this thread, "Th", but, in answer to your question, no, I didn't.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Shame, an English 20th century composer who apparantly wrote in "Baroque" style.

Thal

[rachfan]

I live on the East Coast, have visited California, but have never seen the Golden Gate Bridge.  As I look at the picture posted here though, there is plenty of room over by the railings.  The way the suicide problem has been solved on high bridges on the East Coast is to simply erect tall fencing beside the railings with inwardly curving tops with barbed wire inside the curved top.  In fact, you can see that same tactic applied at the observation deck on top of the Empire State Building in NYC.  It's also sometimes employed on highway overpasses where there have been incidents of kids dropping cinder blocks onto the cars passing below.  So why hasn't or why can't this proved solution work on the Golden Gate Bridge      Seems to me it would be far more effective than posting signs, providing call-help phones that will mostly go unused, and maintaining suicide statistics and videos of the jumpers! 

[thalberg]

I live on the East Coast, have visited California, but have never seen the Golden Gate Bridge.  As I look at the picture posted here though, there is plenty of room over by the railings.  The way the suicide problem has been solved on high bridges on the East Coast is to simply erect tall fencing beside the railings with inwardly curving tops with barbed wire inside the curved top.  In fact, you can see that same tactic applied at the observation deck on top of the Empire State Building in NYC.  It's also sometimes employed on highway overpasses where there have been incidents of kids dropping cinder blocks onto the cars passing below.  So why hasn't or why can't this proved solution work on the Golden Gate Bridge      Seems to me it would be far more effective than posting signs, providing call-help phones that will mostly go unused, and maintaining suicide statistics and videos of the jumpers! 

I think they considered that but voted it down for some reason.  Something about structure or appearance or something.   But I agree with you--a fence or other obstacle is what they need.   

I heard people are now jumping off the millau bridge.  Also, the millau bridge has displaced the Golden Gate as the most beautiful bridge in the world.  Google it; it's breathtaking.  I am in awe of that bridge.  I think it would be better for suicide than the Golden Gate because it's 300 feet higher, and most of it is over land.

[pianowolfi]

From an aesthetical standpoint I like the Goldy bridge more. From the suicidal standpoint, well, just stay alive, people Wolfi dixit.

[ahinton]

Brunel's famous Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England is another possible contender; that said, one can surely not blame great engineers in the field of bridge-building for designing and creating edifices that are then used as suicide springboards by individual members of future generations?

Best,

Alistair

[rachfan]

Here's the new cable-stayed bridge completed in 2006 in Maine, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge which replaces the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge over the Penobscot River.  It features three observation floors at the top of the tower to the left in the picture, (I haven't been up there yet), about 450 feet above the river.  If you look closely, you'll see the towers of another bridge in the background through the cable stays--it's the Waldo-Hancock Bridge completed in 1931 which is slated for demolition this year.  Knock on wood, there have been no untoward incidents at this bridge yet.   Here's the link with  pictures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penobscot_Narrows_Bridge

[richard black]

The Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol has CAST BRONZE plates on every pillar giving the details of the Samaritans, as I recall. I think the problem was not so much people wanting to die as the poor sods in the houses, and on the road, underneath half of the bridge's span who were suffering collateral damage.

The large suspension bridge in Luxembourg has got rather elaborate anti-climb walls (see-through) on each side for similar reasons.

[ahinton]

I hate to say this, in the present context, espeically given the potential double entendre involved, but I find it hard not to - er mention - er...

Bridge End...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

It has been rather shocking to read about all of the Bridgend suicides, but fascinating at the same time.

Someone on the telly the other day claimed that the suicide rate there was actually under the National Average, but i find that hard to believe.

What makes people do this at such a young age and with all of their life ahead of them?

Thal

[ahinton]

It has been rather shocking to read about all of the Bridgend suicides, but fascinating at the same time.

Someone on the telly the other day claimed that the suicide rate there was actually under the National Average, but i find that hard to believe.

What makes people do this at such a young age and with all of their life ahead of them?

Thal

I really don't know and I hope that we eventually find out - and at the same time I offer due apologies for what must have seemed to some to be a very sick and even more unfunny joke...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

It was no better or worse than your "usual".

Thal

[i heart xenakis]

It was no better or worse than your "usual".

Thal

Prepare to be assaulted for your use and thus, the meaning, of quotation marks around the word "usual"


That is, assuming Terry sticks to his usual

[ahinton]

It was no better or worse than your "usual".

Thal

I didn't claim that it was.

Anyway, did you see the item on the subject on BBC2's Newsnight yesterday (before they ran a piece on the improvising art of Gabriela Montero, which I submit was a somewhat different subject)? What did you make of it and, specifically, what's your view of the rôle of the media in it do far?

Best,

Alistair

[thalberg]

Hey!  You all are  a bunch of thread jackers!  We must get back on topic.  Please return to discussing people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

[ahinton]

Hey!  You all are  a bunch of thread jackers!  We must get back on topic.  Please return to discussing people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

No, not "all" of us; I admit that my own passing reference to Gabriela Montero was wholly off topic (and I'm sure most of us would rather listen to her than commit suicide), but the programme in which the item on her occurred also ran a substantial piece on the unprecedented number of suicides in the southern Welsh town of Bridgend which struck me as being on topic both in the matter of suicides themselves and that of the "end of the bridge", so to speak.

Best,

Alistair

[shingo]

I just learned the most bizarre thing today.
There was a movie about it called "The Bridge" where the directors actually filmed the bridge continuously for a year (they just set up the cameras and let them run I think)  and caught 24 suicides on camera, then interviewed the families of the jumpers.

Here's the BBC article related

And here is the whole documnetary.

[thalberg]

Here's the BBC article related

And here is the whole documnetary.

Wow. The whole documentary for free.  Thanks.  I actually took and hour and a half and watched it. 

It's very,very sad.  Although I was uplifted by the man who changed his mind.  He readjusted his body to land feet first, and he survived, and was saved by a seal that circled him and kept him afloat until help arrived.  That is pretty amazing.

[shingo]

Yeah I watched it too. The bit I found most amazing was that I expected these to happen at night, not being American maybe the walkways etc aren't open then etc but I don't know. It was just shocking to see people jumping off in the middle of the day as cars and people just goi by with their daily routine.
     I was also amazed that there were a number of people who just walked past and did nothing when someone was on the ledge. Ok, for most of them some people stopped but if that was me I would immediately stop and ask try and talk them out of it. Respect for that guy who pulled her up though, I would have been scared incase she suddenly jumped and pulled me with her.
     It's a good (eye-opening) watch for those who havn't seen it.

[pianowolfi]

Actually I was on the verge of watching it, I started and thought "oh I like the music" but then I stopped. I think I would feel so strange if I watched someone really jumping. The TV pictures of people jumping out of WTC in NY on 9/11 were enough of a shock to me, for life. I think they had no other choice. For all who have a choice, I wish they just stay alive.

[ksnmohan]

Thanks shingo for the full documentary.

After the Millau Bridge (most breathtaking, no doubt), the Clifton one and the many other contenders, here is another I learnt from my recent visit to China - there's this bridge over the Yangtse where suicides happen a lot and the BBC  had interviewed a guy who had decided voluntarily to  patrol the bridge and stop potential jumpers. His story was good too -

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4149229.stm
or
https://pekingduck.org/archives/001786.php
 
This Mr Chen's life story took on a twist  - apparently in Chinese tradition, if
you save a person's life you become responsible for them -  and a lot of the
people who tried to kill themselves being poor this guy would give them
some money. That plus the fact that he was away from home on weekends
patrolling the bridge was causing unexpected troubles in his personal life...

[timothy42b]

If i jumped off a bridge, there would be another tsunami.

Thal

I had heard you never fill the bathtub more than half full? 

[thalbergmad]

Half a pint normally does it, although i prefer to go down to the river.

Thal

[m]

.

[arensky]

Here's the new cable-stayed bridge completed in 2006 in Maine, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge which replaces the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge over the Penobscot River.  It features three observation floors at the top of the tower to the left in the picture, (I haven't been up there yet), about 450 feet above the river.  If you look closely, you'll see the towers of another bridge in the background through the cable stays--it's the Waldo-Hancock Bridge completed in 1931 which is slated for demolition this year.  Knock on wood, there have been no untoward incidents at this bridge yet.   Here's the link with  pictures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penobscot_Narrows_Bridge

When is the demolition scheduled? I'm overdue to visit many friends in New England, and a bridge demolition is worth a side trip 

[zheer]

  Here in the UK one person every week jumps in front of a tube ( London underground).
I don't know this for a fact, but I was told this by my last psychitrist a few years ago. I was then in a very bad state, lots of bad memory, flash backs, very traumatized basically.
The lady asked me how come I never took my own life, I had to think about that, I realized that the thought never enterd my mind. However I think what would stop me from doing that is the thought that those we care about the most will suffer the most, and that reason alone is enough to stop me and any other SANE person from ending it.
Of course I might be wrong.

[thalbergmad]

 I think what would stop me from doing that is the thought that those we care about the most will suffer the most

That is what stopped me.

Well said.

Thal

[mikey6]

Well they made a 'comedy' out of tube 'jumpers' in London so...nothing's sacred.

[chopininov]

Let them jump. We don't need society meddling with even more of our privacy. People should still be able to control wether they live or die; it's one of the few rights we still have.

[zheer]

Let them jump. We don't need society meddling with even more of our privacy. People should still be able to control wether they live or die; it's one of the few rights we still have.

  I disagree, some people would still be alive and happy today had they received proper attention and care.

[chopininov]

  I disagree, some people would still be alive and happy today had they received proper attention and care.

If you need to attempt suicide in order to get attention and care, then chances are you're screwed.

[zheer]

If you need to attempt suicide in order to get attention and care, then chances are you're screwed.

  Your missing the point, these people need help, I'm sure a lot of people today are alive due to the fact that they were lucky enough to be rescued.

Yes no doubt some individuals may commit suicide for attention, revenge is one, for instance  a women learning about her husbands afair with her best friend would commit suicide so that her best friend lives with that pain for ever ( It's not that un-common.)