Number of George Washigton Bridge suicides on the rise, two attempts were stopped Thursday

Newark Star Ledger ^ | 6-15-2012 | Richard Khavkine

[oldernittany]

So far this year, nine people have jumped to their deaths from the 212-foot high span into the Hudson River, nearly twice as many as the five people who killed themselves last year.....

...it’s difficult to assign a blanket cause to apparent suicide clusters such as this one, people who jump off towering structures tend to be more psychiatrically disturbed and more intent on killing themselves.

[Condor51]

So far this year, nine people have jumped to their deaths from the 212-foot high span (George 'Washington' Bridge) into the Hudson River, nearly twice as many as the five people who killed themselves last year, said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Since 2000, suicides off the bridge have averaged about six a year, although 10 jumped to their deaths in 2004 and 13 in 2010, according to the Port Authority.

Gee whiz now what could be driving these people of NYC to total madness? What exactly has happened in NYC in that time span?

Hmmm... this is a toughie, as it can't be Obama's fault, they love him there. So what else could it be??? WAIT! Could it be because of...??? Yeah ... it could... it's very possible!
The midget dictator, Der Führer, Mikey 'ADOLPH' Bloomberg!!!

First Führer Bloomberg went after Trans Fats and no one spoke up. Then Der Führer Bloomie went after Smokers, and no one spoke up. But now, it's Big Sodas Der verrückte Führer wants to ban - and then his hand picked Food Gestapo decided (on their own I'm sure) to go after anything with sugar in it, and that was it. Now there's nobody left to speak up and the people are going insane.

So they just can't take it anymore and are opting to kill themselves by nose-diving off NYC's Bridges. Really, it's too bad they just couldn't get a gun and use a single bullet to their temple. That'd save the city a lot of search and cleanup money and alleviate the track jams on the bridges caused by the High Dive Suicides.

Bang up job you're doing Bloomie Adolph. So what's next on your 'For Their Own Good' Ban List, huh asshat.
White Bread? Butter? Whole Milk? Coffee?

[Condor51]

OOPS TYPO - Edit Alert in my previous post.

'Track' should be 'Traffic' (sometimes I edit my post too much.

[albie]

These people are always cloggin up traffic. Let ‘em jump.

[presently no screen name]

One person was stopped last week from jumping off the Zee by two drivers who pulled over to intervene and one was an off duty cop.

[presently no screen name]

that immediately after jumping they regret the action

Thanks - I wondered about that. I imagined they were so very despondent that they couldn't think rationally. Seems once they jump, reality sets in.

I think a 'Jumpers Anonymous' Group is in order to help those considering it or is it a split decision that act on or contemplate on it for awhile.

[presently no screen name]

I was thinking that people who jump off bridges are psychiatricallly sound with no intent whatsoever on killing themselves.

Yeah, like they are just the adventurous type. They aren't near any mountains to climb, so a bridge will do.

[Haiku Guy]

Tyler Clementi jumped off the GWB in the famous Rutgers Web-Cam case. Because it became a political case, Mr. Clementi was treated very favorably in the press, and it became very fashionable to bemoan the circumstances of his death. He became a much more sympathetic and famous figure in death than he ever was in life.

This sort of thing is like catnip to certain people who are craving attention and sympathy, who simply cannot save the drama for their momma, and have to play out their problems on a public stage.

The sad thing is that each new bridge jumper is completely anonymous. Everybody is back to not caring again, because there is no political hook to be attached to these new cases. All they do is move the clicker one more notch, from “8” to “9” on the GWB 2012 Jumper Counter.

[4yearlurker]

Hah! I translated that sentence as:” So the Obama economy has nothing to do with the suicides.”

[Texas Eagle]

Hope ‘n’ Change yessirree.

[ETL]

If this keeps up, there’ll soon be a waiting list to jump.

[bkepley]

<>I read recently -on the internet- that nearly all jumpers who survive report that immediately after jumping they regret the action and are shocked at how fast they are falling.

There is an outstanding documentary on people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the ones who survived and was obsessed with suicide for years said that as soon as he left the bridge he had an overpowering sense of having made a terrible mistake.

[donna]

I wonder what the people have in common.

Perhaps they are all taking Ritalin.

[hinckley buzzard]

Wonder if Obama's summer of recovery has anything to do with this despair

It might. Suicides went up during the depths of the Great Depression, and not just the couple of stockbrokers who jumped onto Wall street when the market crashed.

There were proud working Americans back then who said "I'd rather kill myself than go to the poor house"-- and meant it.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Number of George Washington Bridge suicides on the rise.

OK. Seriously. Somebody has to stop these George Washington Bridges from leaping to their death. I didn't know that George Washington bridges ever contemplated suicide, but the title say as much. Maybe we could counsel the bridges of put them on anti-depressants. Poor little George Washington bridges, minding their own business, all alone, lonely and then POW!, leaping to their watery graves.

I blame bullying. Those Holland Tunnel bullies are at it again.

[aposiopetic]

It's the George W. bridge.

Bush's fault.

[tet68]

That’s the great thing about gassing yourself
in your car. By the time you change your mind
it’s too late and you can’t get your hand to
open the door.
Got to be feeling pretty final about then.

[UCANSEE2]

That’s the great thing about gassing yourself in your car.

I don't know about that. I've been sitting in my Chevy Volt for two weeks, and I can still open the door. Maybe I need to get out and seal the garage door a little better.

[RipSawyer]

“And here I was thinking that people who jump off bridges are psychiatricallly sound with no intent whatsoever on killing themselves.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I was thinking they didn’t finish the sentence, people who jump off bridges are obviously more intent on suicide than people who use uncertain methods. When you jump off a bridge you are not hoping that someone will see it as “a plea for help”, you really must want to die when you do that as opposed to someone who swallows a few pills in a place where someone is certain to try to save them. Hitting water from a great height is almost as certain death as hitting concrete from the same height.