PlainEnglish.com\/mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nSuicide barrier planned for Golden Gate Bridge<\/h3>\n
The Golden Gate Bridge, with its two towers, sweeping cables, and rust-orange color, is one of the most famous bridges in the world. Millions of tourists visit every year; many more use it to commute to their jobs in San Francisco from the tony northern suburbs. Set against the hills of Marin County, the rocky shore, and the calm waters, it is one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. In its day, it was an engineering feat; today, it\u2019s the symbol of one of America\u2019s greatest cities. It is also a magnet for suicides.<\/p>\n
Since it was constructed in 1937, over 1,700 people have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge to their deaths, falling 250 feet into the water below. A person who jumps off the bridge hits the water just seconds later at 75 miles per hour. The impact with the water is often fatal, but many people survive the impact with broken bones and internal bleeding. Many who survive the impact later drown. Just five percent of people who jump survive, often with physical disabilities that last a long time. Last year, about 200 people took their own lives by jumping off the bridge.<\/p>\n
But a project is in the works to build a suicide barrier: a net that will extend from each side of the bridge. Project advocates hope that the barrier will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, suicides at the landmark bridge. The net will extend 20 feet from the side of the structure and will be constructed 20 feet below the surface\u2014about the distance of a two-story building. The material will be sturdy, steel marine cable. A person who falls onto the barrier would suffer broken bones and bruises, but that person would live. The suicide barrier will bring to fruition an idea first proposed seventy years ago, when advocates first proposed putting barbed wire over the railing.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is in favor of erecting the barrier. Preservationists argue that the barrier would change the aesthetics of the iconic bridge. Others think it\u2019s not worth the $211 million project cost\u2014three times the original cost of the bridge. And still others say the barrier wouldn\u2019t prevent suicides at all: people so inclined could easily take their lives another way.<\/p>\n
Each of these objections is appealing in its own way, but, even taken together, they are unconvincing. Start with the aesthetics. Yes, the suicide barrier will alter the look of the bridge. Steel brackets to support the barrier will extend from the main bridge structure; these will be visible and painted the same rust-orange. The netting is gray and is expected to blend in with the fog. But the important thing to keep in mind is that, yes, the bridge is a work of art, but it is not a museum piece. It\u2019s a piece of functional art; its job is not to be the background of an Instagram photo. Its job is to safely transport people from one side to the other. If it needs the barrier to do its job, then it should get the most beautiful suicide barrier possible. But it should get the barrier.<\/p>\n
Now for the $211 million project cost\u2014an expenditure, critics say, is to save people who have already decided to take their own lives. Is that really worth it, when there are so many other priorities for public money? Putting a dollar-value on a life saved is always an uncomfortable proposition, but it\u2019s sometimes necessary. So let\u2019s try. If 200 people jump to their deaths each year, the project costs $1 million per person saved per year. If the barrier lasts 20 years, it costs $50,000 per life saved\u2014or the cost of one luxury SUV. Many of the people who jump are young: based on articles in the press, three recent victims were 17, 18, and 25 years old. If they had gotten the treatment they needed, they would have had a full lifetime to work, have families, contribute to society, and, yes, pay taxes. It is awkward to talk about the value of saving a younger person\u2019s life versus an older person\u2019s life, but suicide is a special kind of tragedy that robs people before they hit their prime.<\/p>\n
But the life saved is only one of the benefits of preventing a suicide, especially at a landmark. You have to also consider the effect on the bridge workers, who suffer the emotional toll of having to coax suicidal people from the edge of the bridge with tragic regularity. Patrol workers encounter a suicidal person several times a week: that should not be in anyone\u2019s job description. You should also consider the cost in public resources of rescuing and caring for people who survive, responding to emergency calls, and searching for the bodies of those who don\u2019t survive. This is all not to mention the emotional toll that a suicide takes on the surviving family members. For a parent, losing a child to suicide is the most painful kind of tragedy. Taking all of this into consideration, the $50,000 investment per life saved starts looking like a bargain, not an extravagance.<\/p>\n
But what about the most seductive counter-argument, the idea that the barrier won\u2019t prevent suicides, but simply displace them? Wouldn\u2019t a person determined to take his own life\u2014and they are mostly male\u2014simply find another way to do it? The evidence strongly suggests that the majority would not.<\/p>\n
Suicide has its own bizarre logic. It is surprisingly impulsive: in general, people do not plan it for a long time. A study of young women who attempted suicide found that sixty percent had been seriously contemplating it for less than two hours before they attempted it; ten percent had been thinking about it for less than a minute. Other studies show that nine-tenths of failed suicide attempts do not lead to a second attempt. What\u2019s more, people tend to fixate on a single means of death: if one method doesn\u2019t work, they don\u2019t typically try another. Almost all Golden Gate survivors say it was the bridge or nothing. One study followed 515 people who had attempted suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge, but who were restrained or stopped from jumping. Twenty-five years later, 94 percent were either still alive or had died from other causes; only six percent went on to take their own lives. It is impossible to know in every case, but these facts strongly suggest that in most cases, a suicide impeded is a suicide prevented.<\/p>\n
The barrier is being assembled in a nearby town and gradually installed, piece by piece, via a special access path being built under the roadway. Lanes will be closed at night through 2021.<\/p>\n
\nI met someone who was at the Golden Gate Bridge on the day it opened in 1937. It opened for pedestrians only, and it was flooded with people walking across, being part of the historic day. It really is an incredible bridge. And pretty soon, a safer one, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Golden Gate Bridge is a marvel of engineering and the symbol of San Francisco, but it is also a magnet for suicides: over 1,700 people have jumped to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937. But today, a preventative net is being installed. Though it has a high pricetag and will alter the bridge’s aesthetic, it will probably prevent hundreds of suicides each year. Plus, learn the English phrase “in the prime of your life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"lesson_category":[110],"lesson_number":[409],"terminology_tag":[],"content_tag":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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