Golden Gate Bridge to get a suicide net

by Amuised | October 10, 2008 at 02:22 pm | 5 views | add comment | 0 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.

Uploaded by Amuised | October 10, 2008 at 02:22 pm | 5 views | add comment