I see in the New York Times that the Powers That Be are going to erect a fifty million dollar anti-suicide net under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Fifty million doesn’t buy as much as it used to.
It seem up to 120 people per year dive off the bridge, although some may do so undetected and undiscovered. Bridge people manage to talk two thrids of them out of it.
The Times says the net will be made of steel covered with plastic and anyone jumoing into it will cause the net to collapse around them, like a big trampoline. While diving off the bridge never appealled to me before, I can see this thing becomeing a huge tourist draw.
I’m glad they’re finally doing this. There are certainly people who will commit suicide in another fashion, but many suicides are impulsive acts (this is also the reason that people who have a gun in their house are so much more likely to commit suicide, according to a recent NEJM article).
I think it might help some people stop and think before they do it if you remove the “romantic” aspect of jumping off a famous bridge.
Yeah I thought the same thing. I bet that is actually a line item in the budget for the net. “Estimated fines = 120 * $5000- as you can see, gentlemen, this net will pay for itself within 90 years”
They should make it some sort of inflatable flume ride instead and then they can sell tickets and it will pay for itself. They can also sell t-shirts that say “I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”.
And the people that jump off wanting to kill themselves will have so much fun riding the slide down that they won’t be depressed anymore! It’s a win/win!
I really missed my calling, I should have gone into The Powers That Be-ing.
Can you imagine the humiliation on top of it? Say you want to kill yourself so you jump and get caught in the net. Then you’re stuck there until they pull you out. Meanwhile hundreds of people will probably see you down there, caught in the net and gawk and point and look over the ledge and call to others to come look at you, until one whole side of the bridge is just a whole row of people staring down at you and whispering and maybe laughing and taking pictures of you. I can just imagine someone who’s already sad enough to try killing themselves going through THAT embarrassment, heh.
Maybe not, but I think it will be worth the peace of mind. The GG Bridge some kind of crazy suicide magnet, and it’s been a matter of debate for years and years whether or not to put up some kind of barrier. Yeah, people can kill themselves in other ways, but people in the Bay Area don’t like one of their (can I say our? I grew up in the Bay Area) landmarks overshadowed by such a negative thing.
What I don’t get is the point of the net. Won’t people just be able to jump off of it?
