Comments on: Environmental Activists Advocate For Soil Quality, Leaner Government

By: Suicide barriers on scenic California bridge

Suicide barriers on scenic California bridge — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:43:30 +0000

[...] Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit to block construction. [Santa Barbara Daily Sound via Popehat] [...]

By: mojo

mojo — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:00:30 +0000

Hey, at least they picked a high enough bridge to get the job done. Nobody likes a failed suicide lying around moaning and bleeding.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:17:34 +0000

It’s well-intended, but…no matter what you do, there are other ways. You can’t put a suicide rail on every bridge, building, cliff. Prevention comes before someone decides to die.

Impolitic as it is to say, there’s not much point in this project. Saying so doesn’t make you pro-suicide, any more than opposing hate-crimes legislation makes you a racist. Intentions matter, but results have to guide decision-making.

Spend the money on mental health outreach. Or widen the highway.

By: Little Raven

Little Raven — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:35:52 +0000

I believe that suicide is rarely a dignified choice and almost always a tragedy, and that putting suicide rails on bridges is somewhere in the low 27 thousands on the list of things we should be worrying about.

Pretty bridge, though.

By: Rich Rostrom

Rich Rostrom — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:12:09 +0000

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/398-bridge-to-nowhere-a-map-of-golden-gate-jumpers/

discusses a map/chart showing the distribution of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. (Most jump on the Bay side; there is a spike at light pole 69.)

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:22:12 +0000

You are reading the subtext correctly Jess. I don’t believe that suicide, generally, is a dignified choice which should be left to the individual. I think it’s a tragedy.

Your second, rhetorical question doesn’t require an answer.

By: Jess

Jess — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:50:45 +0000

Am I reading the subtext here correctly: that suicide is a horrible thing, and everyone who has ever done it should have been stopped from doing so, and if only we put up a few more fences next to precipices then no one would ever again make this tragic mistake?

Please, this is America. People shouldn’t have to procure guns to end their lives with dignity. I submit that this bridge is more effective than a gun in inexperienced hands, anyway.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:17:21 +0000

Why isn’t anyone discussing the impact on suicide tourism?

‘If we make it inconvenient for people to come visit Santa Barbara County (and kill themselves), they’ll just go somewhere else!’

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:43:36 +0000

That’d be a beautiful place to die.