Posted on 07/21/2008 7:50:20 AM PDT by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO – Olivia Crowther left her London flat last month to become a statistic in San Francisco.
The 23-year-old college graduate surfed suicide Web sites, bought a plane ticket for California and, at 9:24 a.m. on June 25, leapt to her death off the Golden Gate Bridge, at light pole No. 105.
Her body was retrieved from the water nine minutes later – one of the latest among at least 1,300 suicides at the majestic span since it opened in 1937.
The debate over what to do about the deaths goes back nearly as far, though the pace is quickening this week with public meetings over proposals to prevent such tragedies.
Will Bay Area residents favor costly suicide barriers on one of the world's most famous bridges? Will they want to raise the existing 4-foot rail? Hang nets? Or do nothing?
It is an emotional debate that raises questions about aesthetics vs. public safety, costs vs. benefits, preservation vs. change. For many, it's also about the value of iconic symbols vs. the value of human life – and whether engineering can save suicidal people.
"We can't leave a 4-foot rail on a 220-foot drop available to vulnerable people who are in pain and having a bad day or a bad week or a bad month," said David Hull, a San Francisco librarian whose daughter, Kathy, committed suicide off the bridge in 2003.
Hull said his 26-year-old daughter was emerging from a long depression. He rejected the idea that people thinking of killing themselves will find a way, no matter what. He believes research supports the view that many suicides are impulsive and, thus, preventable – especially at a site with the mystique and allure of the towering suspension span.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
In my opinion, the reason somebody might want to jump off this bridge in particular is to make a statement. If this young woman just killed herself in a London flat, it’d probably go by un-noticed by anyone. Here, she gets to make a ‘statement’ that’ll be guaranteed to make the news. Some people are just looking for a way to say “Hey! Notice me!”. Problem is...with this method, they aren’t around to realize that anyone actually noticed.
I also think that, at least in this case, the young woman traveled all that way so that, possibly while on the way at some point, someone might actually try to stop her. Even for the deeply depressed and suicidal person, there is still a desire to want to live. A lot of suicidal people are looking for an excuse, a reason...ANY reason...not to go through with it.
As for some of the replies on this thread, it does sadden me that some here have the same attitude as Ebenezer Scrooge: “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
Another nutty idea from the Sewage Capital of America.
If they really care about people’s lives, why don’t they start fighting for those who are unable to defend themselves — the UNBORN?
There’s an interesting documentary entitled “The Bridge” which is shown at least 2-3 times a year on the local PBS station. It deals with the people jumping off the GG bridge. Cameras were set up for an entire year focusing on the GG bridge. It shows people attempting to jump and actual jumpers (together with their personal stories and interviews with family and friends). Very interesting, especially the back dives. I think it was filmed in 2004 and they stated that there were 43 jumpers that year. Police are always hauling off attempters.
self ping
if this young woman’s only goal was to die, she could have just as easily hurled herself from the window of her flat. she chose a death with so many steps that at some point she should have encountered a barrier, something to make her think twice or make someone else notice how unhappy she was. she didn’t. she jumped. that four foot tall fence may have been the only barrier she needed to think twice.
Governmental micro-management of a free people will not stand well with its subjects.
You're right. This was no "impulsive" act.
Although I'll allow that this had to be a terribly troubled young woman but fixing the San Francisco bridge wouldn't likely have stopped her.
And yeah, obviously this poor woman had been having serious "issues" with her life. There are plenty of places to get help and I wonder where was her family in all this.
Hey, if they can blame a bridge for their daughter's suicide, then we can blame....THEM!
Absolutely right. What a fag for expressing himself after his daughter committed suicide. /contemptuous sarcasm
I live very near the Narrows Bridge in Tacoma Washington and it is incredibly easy to leap from it. However there are very few suicide attempts, yet Seattle used to rank as one of the most suicidal areas.
Anyway, the toll for the new bridge is high enough and I will resist any attempt to suicide proof it if it raises costs.
I don’t know about that. You have great views of Manhattan looking either north or south from the Brooklyn Bridge. From the pedestrian walkway, you can basically jump into traffic, not into the East River. The George Washington Bridge is the go-to bridge for suicides in NYC, I think.
Yeah, a couple of people have. I remember one in particular who made the cover of People Magazine. It was in the 80’s. I just can’t remember the name.
A few years ago a couple of kids slipped through a gap UNDER the four foot barrier on the North end of the bridge and fell to their death. I don’t believe they were trying to commit suicide. I hope that gap has been fixed.
Re: one of the latest among at least 1,300 suicides at the majestic span
It’s a quagmire!
The Tappan Zee bridge across the Hudson River simply posts signs using a slogan from Fulton Sheen’s old T.V. show—”Life is Worth Living”—along with some telephones. A couple of callers have not jumped. But even with next to no access, it happens.
If any other city, I might say put it up.
i was thinking the same thing. she flew from england to jump from the gg. if the gg isn’t available then i am sure they will fly to new york or somewhere else that has an available bridge. its the libs way of keeping people around longer to try and garner thier votes. simply a conspiracy. lol.
It’s high enough to achieve terminal velocity (125 m.p.h.) if you do it right. If you jumped flat, like a skydiver, you wouldn’t acclerate as fast due to air resistance. When you hit the water, you have to displace an amount of water equal to your own mass. You can’t compress it. You have to push it away at the same speed you were moving when you hit it.
Say the jumper weighs 165 pounds. He’s about 8” thick. If he does a belly flop, he has to displace 165 pounds of water as quickly as he makes contact with it. If he falls at 60 miles per hour, 88 feet per second, it takes .008 seconds for him to move one foot through the water.
If he dove in perfect form, his hands enter the water first. They displace a mass of water equal to the mass of his hands. The friction also reduces his speed a little. His arms have the same effect, and create a temporary space in the water so that his head has a partly empty space to enter. The rest of his body displaces more and more water as his head, trunk, and legs enter. Friction reduces the speed of the collision and each part hits with less energy.
The force is also divided along the length of both sides of the body, instead of one side in the belly flop. If the diver is 5’ 10’ and hits the water at 125 m.ph., it takes him .032 seconds to fully enter the water. He has increased the time of the collision by a factor of 4, and doubled the surface area acting on his body.
People do survive these jumps, but mostly they don’t. I’ve wondered how many people survived, then floated to the surface and realized that they are going to drown because they’ve injured themselves to the point where they can’t swim.
Well it is difficult to expect rationality from a would be suicide. Suicides that cause great disruption are a public matter. I am not sure how much disruption a jumper off the Golden Gate is or not. They put up a barrier on a very plain bridge here in Toronto and it has apparently worked out well. link follows http://www.sfchroniclemarketplace.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/03/MNG9UFHK811.DTL
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