Man severely injured after falling off 30-foot border wall

KYMA.com ^ | August 6, 2018 | Crystal Bedoya

[Eleutheria5]

Jerk-off In Numerous Odious Ways.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I watched BORDER INCIDENT with Ricardo Montalban last night.

BUILD THE WALL! or at least start using multi-layers of Concertina wire.

[Conan the Librarian]

At DisneyWorld, Disney just picks up the parts after the wildlife gets through with you.

You have to swim the 20ft moat after all.

[BeauBo]

“A rope and a drone makes it a lot easier to scale that wall design.”

Not impregnable, but effective at deterring the great bulk of people. Like they say, 50 foot wall, 51 foot ladder.

Although any barrier can be breached, gotten over or under, there are some real thresholds of significance, along the cost/effectiveness curve. Stopping unassisted climbers is one of them. They are the great bulk of border crossers.

The height of 30 feet itself is an effective deterrent. A lot of people willing to scale 18 foot barriers will balk at 30 foot. 30 feet is a significant risk of death in a fall - more than half will die from it (LD50). The fatality rate from 18 foot falls is under 1%.

Making a barrier that cannot be free climbed (without equipment) is a significant threshold. A big round barrel top that offers no handholds and is too big to reach around, puts a hard stop to unaided scaling.

These heavy steel (concrete filled) bollards are beyond the ability of common people to breach as well. Jose Handyman can get a hold of battery powered tools that can cut through sheet metal fences (an everyday occurrence on the border), but bollards have been standing for years on the border with virtually no maintenance. They can literally withstand a bomb, or being rammed by a speeding dump truck.

The six foot deep concrete bases also does away with a common infiltration technique whereby border crossers dig enough of a space to slide under the old landing mat (sheet metal) barriers, just minutes before their attempt (before patrols can detect the “tunnel”. To dig under the bollard foundation is mutli-hour hard effort, if you are right at the base (where you would be easily seen). It does away with common folk tunneling.

These see through bollard barriers are now being installed with constant camera surveillance, and efforts are underway to link the cameras with unblinking artificial intelligence software, to reliably alert Border Patrol of anyone approaching the barrier.

At the article link, you can watch the video of this poor border crosser falling. That fast detection and response may have been what saved his life, but it would also mean that folks who did successfully scale the barrier with ropes or ladders, would be running from the cops as soon as they landed.

[US_MilitaryRules]

As Trump said, they’re not send their brightest!

[BeauBo]

"How did Paco make it up the 30-foot wall on the Mexico side? Once on top, how the hell did he expect to make it down? Or was this just a not-very-well-thought-out plan?"

People can climb bollards, with the same technique used to climb coconut trees. Fit young men have been scaling the 18 foot bollards like that, carrying loads of drugs on their backs.

I think that scale of this fence, is what defeated this guy's attempt. If your arms or your grip wears out on an 18 foot fence and you slide down, you walk away (probably without a limp). But arms and grip must be significantly stronger/fitter for a 30 foot barrier (beyond the average man in the street), and a slip could mean death or permanent disability. At the top, 30 feet can be dizzingly high - a lot more fear-inducing than 18 feet.

They need to start putting the barrel tops on these bollards, to keep free climbers off the dangerous tops of these barriers. Congress forbade new designs in the last appropriation, but they should require these anti-climb "Safety Tops" from now on.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

When you’re dumb, you gotta be tough.

[Tamatoa]

Thanks for the information. I think the crazy fit illegals will try to find a way to scale them. (If there are any fit illegals crossing the boarder at all). What about transportation of drugs? Just curious what the solution for that with this wall setting.

[BeauBo]

“With a ladder and a grappling hook, it can be overcome. They better have frequent patrols and thorough surveillance.”

Ropes and ladders will likely remain as possible, but impractical methods of getting past this kind of barrier even with an anti-climb top. As they say, 50 foot wall, 51 foot ladder. 30 foot ladders effectively require a team, and there is a delay when using ropes/hooks.

The new urban bollard is installed with camera surveillance, lights, patrol road, and likely hidden sensor systems (alarms). Even though teams of trained climbers with equipment could get over almost any barrier, they will be more likely to get caught. The great bulk of people will just be be deterred by the obstacle.

[BeauBo]

“What about transportation of drugs?”

That is definitely a tougher problem, requiring a lot of sophisticated counter-measures. Good pedestrian barrier helps by taking away the easier routes, and channels smugglers into border checkpoints, or difficult rural routes.

[eartick]

More like dozens.

In ONE county in Texas, Brooks, they average 14 a month.

The summer of '04-'08 saw this number reach 60-70 a month and that was the ones that were found. In fact, in '04 I found 7 in the month of August on ONE ranch in Brooks. I would buzzard track to find them.

Yeah, it is thousands and they get what they find when they cross the border illegally.

[Eleutheria5]

Only one thing missing:

[ichabod1]

I just read a book where a guy broke both legs jumping from the Berlin Wall. This guy just won the lottery.

[D Rider]

Should have launched him back over the wall, Monty Python style.

[dragnet2]

Someone wrote me a PM and said;

""Not true. I fell 40' onto concrete when I was a kid. I was only in a coma for 10 days""

☺...What a hoot!

[stars & stripes forever]

[This prototype design is also 30 foot bollards]

Hmmm...
Will the wall design become an obstacle for AMERICAN NINJA WARRIORS?

[BeauBo]

Brooks County, Texas is not on the border.

You: “Thousands die every year in the brush and desert country and these hordes keep coming.”

Me: “More like dozens.”

Wikipedia: “The US Border Patrol reported 294 migrant deaths in the fiscal year 2017 (ending September 30, 2017), which was lower than in 2016 (322), and any year during the period 2003-2014.

The highest number of deaths reported over the period 1998-2016 were the 492 deaths reported by the Border Patrol in 2005. “

[Osage Orange]

Thousands!!

Had a relative air-lifted..once. Maybe 45 miles....= $30k

[Osage Orange]

Agreed!!

At the top...4 foot tall!!!

[BeauBo]

“Will the wall design become an obstacle for AMERICAN NINJA WARRIORS?”

Actually, the design of obstacles for American Ninja Warriors reveals the physics/ergonomics of obstacles. The sizes can be engineered to be easy, achievable by only the top percentile, or simply beyond reach of a free climber (without equipment).

Take the rounded barrel top, for instance. A tube of one foot across would be tricky to grab, but people could do it. If it was six feet across though, people just couldn’t get a grip on it, or get over the 2-3 foot overhang.

Trained climbers with gear can climb Mt. Everest, or scale the face of skyscrapers. 30 foot bollards with anti-climb plate and a large barrel top can stop free climbers though - even Ninja Warriors.