Golden Gate Bridge to get a suicide net

by amyjudd | October 10, 2008 at 12:19 pm | 714 views | 11 comments | 10 recommendations

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco will get a suicide net it was voted today, but where the money is coming from is still to be decided.

A bridge in BC currently being built will also get a suicide barrier, but the Golden Gate Bridge has long been a desired place for people to take their own lives.

It will literally be a net extending form the side of the bridge span.

"It's time to make a decision on this," said board member and Marin Supervisor Hal Brown, before the voice vote on the emotional issue.

Families of people who have jumped and Marin's clergy came to the hearing, asking that the district move ahead with the project.

"This is the right thing to do," said John Brooks of Tiburon, whose 17-year-old daughter, Casey, jumped to her death from the span in January. "We will join the rest of the civilized world in saving lives at this structure."

No funds have been identified for the barrier project, which will cost between $40 million and $50 million, bridge officials said. An environmental impact report on the net will now be conducted and completed by April. At that time the project must have a funding plan in place, officials said.

A horizontal net system 20 feet below the sidewalk that extends 20 feet from the bridge would cost $78,000 a year to maintain, the cost mainly coming from workers spending time picking out debris by using a vehicle with an elongated arm.

Other options examined involved vertical fencing on the span.

The net will be constructed from stainless steel cable and would catch people when they jumped. It would also give slightly making it hard for people to get back out.
Last year, 38 people committed suicide off the bridge, and nineteen people have jumped so far this year.
Since the bridge opened in 1937, 1,300 people have committed suicide off it.

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Good news on the nets. I'll bet that increases the number of jumpers tenfold though. The people who want to kill themselves will go, and the ones looking for Extreme Bridge Sports will flock.

(Hmmm... will there be a fine for people who jump just for the rush?)

here in Toronto we put up the suicide barrier about 6 years ago. at the cost of (about) 4 million to the taxpayers of Toronto. i wrote a paper on suicide in college as the construction had started on this bridge. the golden gate bridge was #1 for suicides and the bloor viaduct was #2 for suicides from bridges in the world.

i noticed a few things around this time:

1. people were still jumping as this barrier was being built; my mother drove by on her scooter and just missed a jumper.

2. suicides have gone up on the TTC, specifically on the train track level.

3. on each side of the bridge on both sides of the road; there are signs with a hotline number to call. the catch is you have to have a quarter to make the call. and now the telephone costs .50 cents per call. why not have a free 1-800 type of number. having or not having a quarter could be the deciding factor for someone who is suicidal.

4. while i was taking one of my social work electives a spokesperson from said hotline was a guest speaker. i asked her why there was not a 1-800 number. she replied with, "it's the city's sign". my response was but it is advertising your agency, which is the number YOU are providing. that has nothing to do with the city providing the signage for you. she seemed annoyed with my valid observation.

5. there are other bridges in this city that are just as high as the bloor viaduct if not higher. so when are barriers going to be built for those bridges? common sense to me. you block one bridge but leave all the others available to jumpers? i know the bloor viaduct like the golden gate bridge have a certain amount of notoriety but if someone wants to jump it doesn't matter what bridge they do it from.

... so i think it is a good thing for the protection of the public that the barriers are built, but then on the flip side.. from a tourist's prespective; you are now going to be missing out on a great photographic opportunity. on our bridge we have a telescope sort of devise that has audio capabilities; now if you look through the view finder you see rods but you still get to hear the audio!

thanks for the article, steph :0)

Thanks for all the added information!

great article. ties in to our situation here in Toronto from a few years ago.

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

i hope you don't mind, but i added some pics of our Toronto Bloor Viaduct bridge to demonstrate what the rods/cables look like that will be part of the suicide barrier construction.

No that's great - thanks so much!

I am very glad they are trying to make this barrier, not only to stop people from taking their lives on this bridge, but from avoiding any accidents that could occur. I heard not to long ago, that a child fell of a bridge (not sure if it was The Golden Gate Bridge) and died because of the accident. I cant image losing a child like that...

No me either. I didn't hear about that but that would be so scary.

What about the Bay Bridge, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and the Carquinez Bridge? The GG is easier to reach on foot, but if someone really wants to jump, then they will find something from which to do so. I couldn't find any statistic on how many calls those suicide-prevention phones receive (when they are working), but I'd really like to know.