Suicide Bridge

[Mercury]

Trailer: Zwl-Pa_QT0M

Filming 'The Bridge'
Filmmaker Eric Steel was shocked when he first read that an average of 20 people kill themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge every year. He was also amazed by the lack of effort to prevent these suicides.
"Most bridges where, or high places, if it's high enough that it would be a fatal fall, have put up suicide barriers precisely for this reason," Steel said.
He was equally amazed by bridge officials' response to the suicides. At other tall, iconic structures that had become "suicide magnets," barriers had been constructed to prevent access to areas where people could jump.
These barriers drastically reduced -- and often eliminated -- suicides at landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, Italy's Duomo, St. Peter's Basilica, and Australia's Sydney Harbor Bridge, among others.
"One of the things that we noticed when we were at the bridge, when someone jumped and there's a splash in the water, within minutes, it's like nothing happened," Steel said. "The bridge has this amazing power to erase any trace of what's happened there. Just the way the water moves and the traffic moves and people keep walking."
In 2004, Hines and his crew filmed every daylight hour of the bridge for 365 days, capturing 23 of the 24 suicides that took place. He also tracked the loved ones of the jumpers to try to figure out why the suicides had happened.
"I think the suffering and the hardship is hard to quantify," Steel said. "I think it's evident in every single one of these people that it's almost like they play, play their life backwards. And they keep looking back and thinking what did I miss or what did I -- what could I have done or what if, all these different options. And I think everyone who shares their stories in the film did so out of a belief that they would make things better for one other family or two other families or 24 other families. And that generosity is really remarkable to me."

http://thegoldengatebridgesuicides.blogspot.com/#axzz1nnyqiO26

Full Movie: bqeoQ-5ot34

[Mercury]

When Kevin Hines saw the first suicide jumper tumble over the side of the Golden Gate Bridge on the television screen, he physically shook.
http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/abc_gma_hines2_060428_sp.jpg
Kevin Hines survived a suicide jump from the Golden Gate Bridge in 2000. (ABC News)

"Is that what I looked like?" he said that he thought. "Is that what happened to me?"
Hines, who suffers from bipolar disorder, survived a jump from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 2000. Watching "The Bridge" -- a new documentary that captures 23 suicide jumps from the bridge in 2004 -- was difficult for him. Hines calls the controversial documentary a positive influence, and believes in the filmmakers' goal to expose the high number of suicides that take place at one locale and officials' failure to erect suicide barriers.
"It shows the truth about the fact that these are beautiful people with terrible issues that a lot of people want to just shove under the rug," the 25-year-old said. "And no longer after this movie can you shove this under the rug."
Deciding to Jump
Six years ago, when Hines was in high school, he started hearing voices. His torment became so intense that he finally decided to kill himself. One day, as usual, he attended his first class, then took a bus to the bridge, crying all the way.
"I had heard that the Golden Gate Bridge was the easiest way to die. I heard that you hit the water and you're dead," Hines said. "And I remember picking the spot. This is the good spot. I'm not too close to the pillar. I won't hit the pillar. I'm not too close to the land. I won't hit the land. I'll hit the water and I'll die."
Hines stood on the bridge for 40 minutes. No one approached him to ask what was wrong. When a tourist came up and asked whether he could take her photo, Hines said that was the final straw -- clear proof that no one cared.
He took the picture, then jumped. Instantly, he realized he had made a mistake, and came up with a plan to save his life.
"It was simply this: God, save me, A. B, throw your head back. C, hit feet first," Hines said. "And I did all of that."

The impact was crushing, and Hines hurtled 40 feet underwater. Miraculously, he survived.
Hines said his decision to kill himself at the Golden Gate came down to simplicity.
"It's this simple," Hines said. "A 4-foot rail. A tall 12-year-old could fall off."

Source: http://thegoldengatebridgesuicides.blogspot.com/2009/04/plunge.html

[rhiannon]

Holy crap.....what an eerie film. I am just morbid enough to consider seeing this....hell, I saw the Faces of Death films in the late 1980s...

[Supreme American]

I don't see the point of babysitting such structures; people set on suicide will find a way regardless. Other bridges have been noted for this such as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida.

[Odoacer]

At my request, Currie also sent more recent statistics gathered between 2000 and 2010. In those eleven years, the transportation district documented 677 incidents where individuals “who may have been intending to commit suicide” on the Golden Gate Bridge were stopped by officers or other bystanders, along with 278 confirmed suicides and 59 unconfirmed suicides from the bridge. Even if we assume all the unconfirmed suicides were in fact suicides, these figures suggest that only 33% of those who went to the Golden Gate Bridge to kill themselves between 2000 and 2010 actually succeeded.

Now imagine a suicide barrier goes up (and one is planned for the Golden Gate Bridge—at a cost of $50 million). Given research at the Bloor Street Viaduct in Toronto recently published in the British Medical Journal, it seems likely that jumpers would no longer jump from that bridge, but they would substitute other similar jumping sites if they are available. None of these sites would be tourist destinations like the Golden Gate Bridge is. They may not have as many people or officers around. Will the 67% of people who are currently saved by members of the public still be saved after a barrier goes up? [Source (http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2011/04/could_putting_up_a_suicide_bar.shtml).]


Results Yearly rates of suicide by jumping in Toronto remained unchanged between the periods before and after the construction of a barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct (56.4 v 56.6, P=0.95). A mean of 9.3 suicides occurred annually at Bloor Street Viaduct before the barrier and none after the barrier (P<0.01). Yearly rates of suicide by jumping from other bridges and buildings were higher in the period after the barrier although only significant for other bridges (other bridges: 8.7 v 14.2, P=0.01; buildings: 38.5 v 42.7, P=0.32).

Conclusions Although the barrier prevented suicides at Bloor Street Viaduct, the rate of suicide by jumping in Toronto remained unchanged. This lack of change might have been due to a reciprocal increase in suicides from other bridges and buildings. This finding suggests that Bloor Street Viaduct may not have been a uniquely attractive location for suicide and that barriers on bridges may not alter absolute rates of suicide by jumping when comparable bridges are nearby. [Source (http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c2884.full).]


Barrier opponents in Augusta and San Francisco are right. Barriers are ugly and expensive. Moreover, by putting them up, we in fact might be making the problem worse.

Here's why. Suicide is an impulsive act, driven by loneliness and despair. If it is possible to intervene - to simply talk to someone or even reach out a hand - many might hesitate. But intervention is impossible when the suicide is some place private and alone. Bridges, on the other hand, are public places. Roberta Hurtig, executive director of the Boston-area suicide-prevention organization Samaritans (and, it should be said, a supporter of barriers), notes that the Tobin Bridge once had a dozen jumpers a year. Because barriers were impossible to erect, security cameras and regular police patrols were put in place instead. The number of suicides is now down to three or four.

Barriers, I fear, simply push the problem elsewhere, making it less visible but not less likely. The lesson I draw from the Tobin experience is that, instead of money for fences, perhaps it would be better to spend our resources on surveillance and response. Such an effort probably wouldn't stop all who try to jump, but those it prevented might find their lives truly saved. [Source (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/10/22/should_bridges_be_suicideproof/).]

[Supreme American]

Babysitting bridges isn't extremely effective:


According to compilations from various media reports, at least 130 people have committed suicide by jumping from the center span into the waters of Tampa Bay since the opening of the new bridge in 1987 and an estimated 10 others have tried, but survived. A Rottweiler named Shasta survived after either following or being carried over the edge by its owner, who died.[18] Another 51 people ended their lives from the old Sunshine Skyway from 1954 to 1987. Several other missing persons are suspected of having jumped from the bridge, but their deaths could not be confirmed as no bodies were recovered.

In response to the bridge's popularity as a method of demise for the depressed, the State of Florida installed six crisis hotline phones along the center span in 1999, and began 24-hour patrols. As of 2003, the call center received 18 calls from potential jumpers, all of whom survived, according to a St. Petersburg Times report.[19] However, the total number of jumpers has not significantly declined since the introduction of these safeguards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge#Bridge_suicides

[rhiannon]

I tend toward Lagergeld's POV here as well. The fact is, if a person wants to off themselves....they're gonna find a way, come hell or high water, to do it. I kinda doubt they can make bridges of this size *suicide proof*

[Mercury]

The big finale at the end is amazing. I can't believe the man flipped backwards off the Bridge so gracefully. You can tell he truly wanted to die, unlike others (including the survivor) who looked like they were panicking half way through.

By the way, the survivor's story with the Seal saving him was stunning. I've heard of dolphins keeping people afloat before, but seals? Seems like some sort of Divine Intervention.

[Mercury]

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Here's another Youtube video I found of just the jumpers. The survivor is in there also the one who swan dives at the end.

[Grumpy Cat]

The Confederation Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_bridge) looks promising. No guards.

I don;'t think there are direct dials to the suicide hotline on it, either.

You're not allowed to stop on it either, but since it takes 8 minutes to cross it, it would take the cops 4 minutes to get to the high point in the centre.

[The Lawspeaker]

Holy crap.....what an eerie film. I am just morbid enough to consider seeing this....hell, I saw the Faces of Death films in the late 1980s...
That's the hardest bit of watching this film.. knowing that you are watching people walk by those people and doing anything to help. They aren't even talking to them. And then all the viewer can do is watch them die.

Makes one wonder what society has turned into.

[rhiannon]

That's the hardest bit of watching this film.. knowing that you are watching people walk by those people and doing anything to help. They aren't even talking to them. And then all the viewer can do is watch them die.

Makes one wonder what society has turned into.

There's a story similar to this that happened in NYC some years ago....a woman was murdered in broad daylight, and nobody intervened:mad:

Frightening.

[Phil75231]

I have a sort of sense of how this can happen, but I can't articulate it. I guess it's just that in an urban area, so much stuff happens that, for some reason, we just see it as "just the background of big-city living" ... like trees in the park, blue in the sky, or hearing jet engines all the time if you live near an airport.

And this is just from living in Dallas, known to be rather friendly and helpful for a metro area its size!!! (pop of DFW area is 6 million and still rising, 4 mil for Dallas metro alone)

[The Lawspeaker]

There's a story similar to this that happened in NYC some years ago....a woman was murdered in broad daylight, and nobody intervened:mad:

Frightening.
Kitty Genovese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese) ? 1964.

[rhiannon]

Kitty Genovese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese) ? 1964.

Ok...a little more than some years ago, lol. Yes, I think that's the one. Just horrible:mad:

[The Lawspeaker]

Just found this list (http://retardzone.com/2008/08/27/worlds-10-most-popular-suicide-destinations/)... Aokigahara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara) (Japan) must be such a sad, lonely and eerie place.

[The Lawspeaker]

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Aokigahara Suicide Forest

[rhiannon]

A suicide forest sounds ultimately creepy. :(

[The Alchemist]

It's so sad. I've heard of many "suicide bridges" in the world, it seems to be a common thing. Very sad, again.

[Drawing-slim]

It doesn't make sense what you guys are saying.
What can anyone there do anything about it?
Those people look like normal tourists then jumping.
Sad, but nothing can one do in my opinion, as far as i watched.

[Gamera]

In Lima this bridge (Villena Bridge - Puente Villena) was a well known "suicide bridge", they had to add those things on the sides in 2004 in order to prevent them (something that ruined the great view you could see from there without them, reason why I am against it, if someone wants to commit suicide they will still find a way to do it):

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/38188806.jpg

http://cuidandomirafloresmajb.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/puente.jpg

Between 1988 and 2003, 65 people jumped from there.