• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Golden Gate Bridge suicide info?

I was feelin depressed one day in the seventies and decided to walk to the Bridge and jump.. I took one look and thought: "Fackkkk that's too far to fall. I might have second thoughts."
 
Was just talking to a family friend on Saturday and they were saying they are friends with mother of the guy in black from The Bridge. She also knew him a bit. Strange this thread comes up right after.
 
afm199 said:
I was feelin depressed one day in the seventies and decided to walk to the Bridge and jump.. I took one look and thought: "Fackkkk that's too far to fall. I might have second thoughts."
Click to expand...

Sucks if you change your mind halfway down...

I've known 2 people to jump off Bixby Bridge.
 
Apparently they'd stop a lot of them by painting it a different color.

But no, tourism and tradition is far more important.



Didn't some kid around here just jump off a bridge for the hell of it? I believe that a lot of folks don't go up there thinking about it a whole lot, and that they happen in groupings. It happened with 9/11, albeit a lot more immediate a reaction. People would see others jumping and let go, too.
 
Daks said:
Apparently they'd stop a lot of them by painting it a different color.

But no, tourism and tradition is far more important.



Didn't some kid around here just jump off a bridge for the hell of it? I believe that a lot of folks don't go up there thinking about it a whole lot, and that they happen in groupings. It happened with 9/11, albeit a lot more immediate a reaction. People would see others jumping and let go, too.
Click to expand...

Painting the bridge would stop suicides? What? Not only should we hold accountable people who want to preserve a national landmark because some people decide to behave totally irrationally, but moreover, the proper course of action is to change the color, because that's gonna stop people from jumping? Am I missing something?

You're right though, the reason it's a suicide hotspot is because it's already a suicide hotspot. It's kind of our culture now.
 
Last edited:
Blankpage said:
If so and so jumped off a bridge would you?

I guess the answer is yes
Click to expand...

See I was going to make that joke but it would make me sound like a douche as a first post in this thread.

Thanks for taking one for the team
 
Abyss said:
Painting the bridge would stop suicides? What?
Click to expand...

It's bright, it's angry, it's iconic, it's romantic. Color has a lot to do with a lot of things mentally. It's why prisons (and schools) are often painted in soft hues that are more calming.

Arresting and bright colors spur emotion and passion.

I read about it specifically somewhere but now I can't find it.
Would it stop them entirely? Nope but how many people jump off of regular colored bridges vs that one?

I support the net idea over painting though. More factual support. A lot of people don't want to die. They just really like the idea and the bridge gives them this spectacle.
 
Daks said:
It's bright, it's angry, it's iconic, it's romantic. Color has a lot to do with a lot of things mentally. It's why prisons (and schools) are often painted in soft hues that are more calming.

Arresting and bright colors spur emotion and passion.

I read about it specifically somewhere but now I can't find it.
Would it stop them entirely? Nope but how many people jump off of regular colored bridges vs that one?

I support the net idea over painting though. More factual support. A lot of people don't want to die. They just really like the idea and the bridge gives them this spectacle.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of the power of color (Japan now has blue streetlights and crime has gone way down) but I find it ridiculous that anyone is spurred to suicide because the bridge is red (or is it even? It's like a burnt-orange).

You realize that if they put a net on the bridge (at massive taxpayer expense), people will just go to another bridge. I think it would be better if we devoted more of our efforts into helping these people want to end it all. Adding a net is like shooting a bulletproof vest instead of unloading the gun.
 
Abyss said:
I'm aware of the power of color (Japan now has blue streetlights and crime has gone way down) but I find it ridiculous that anyone is spurred to suicide because the bridge is red (or is it even? It's like a burnt-orange).

You realize that if they put a net on the bridge (at massive taxpayer expense), people will just go to another bridge. I think it would be better if we devoted more of our efforts into helping these people want to end it all. Adding a net is like shooting a bulletproof vest instead of unloading the gun.
Click to expand...

The determined, yes, the impulsive, no.
The GGB is the only big landmark without a prevention feature. And if not for the jumpers, how about those who just fall? Do it on a dare? Or the 5 year old who was thrown over it before her father jumped?

If we can afford a net to keep endangered birds out of the bay bridge fiasco we can make something for our own people.

You have to wonder how many of those 1500+ who jumped decided they wanted to live halfway down and would have if they had been stopped and helped. Is it an ideal solution? No, but while you wait around for society to change its stigmas and apathy toward mental illness (if not straight denial) and refuse to pay for treating them, how many more will jump? How many more can a prevention feature save?
 
Daks said:
The determined, yes, the impulsive, no.
The GGB is the only big landmark without a prevention feature. And if not for the jumpers, how about those who just fall? Do it on a dare? Or the 5 year old who was thrown over it before her father jumped?

If we can afford a net to keep endangered birds out of the bay bridge fiasco we can make something for our own people.

You have to wonder how many of those 1500+ who jumped decided they wanted to live halfway down and would have if they had been stopped and helped. Is it an ideal solution? No, but while you wait around for society to change its stigmas and apathy toward mental illness (if not straight denial) and refuse to pay for treating them, how many more will jump? How many more can a prevention feature save?
Click to expand...

Why is it our business to regulate the bad decisions of the few? Don't we have more important things to worry about? We're blowing up civvies halfway across the world in the name of freedom but we should be worrying about some dumbass kids who thought it was a good idea to dangle themselves off the edge of the biggest suicide hotspot in the world? That logic just doesn't follow. I'm not really one of those people who thinks every preventable death is equally important. Let's think big picture first and spend our time and money fighting obvious injustices.
 
Daks, please... stop it.

Enough of the fucking nanny state. We don't need more laws written that protect ourselves from ourselves. We need more personal responsibility, not more laws.

Period. End. Of. Story.
 
billswim said:
I agree with you on the faces of death shit. Could never bring myself to watch that sort of thing. This movie isn't like that at all. Its a very intense examination of the people around the bridge, and the people who choose to use it as their means to kill themselves, and the pain they leave behind; both theirs and their family's.

Definitely worth the time it takes to watch it.
Click to expand...

Hella people kill themselves. Lots like to use the bridge. I just summed up the data in 10 words including shitty slang. What else is there to learn?
 
I believe that if you think you know everything you stop learning anything.
I learned a great deal from the movie.
I learned that my personal experience with suicide remains alive and well. This topic is of great importance imo-from those who do it and for those who survive it.

Daks-I could not find anything that you have posted to agree with. Do you believe that painting the ggb would lead to fewer suicides off of the bridge or do you think painting it would result in fewer suicides?
 
I think rather than a barrier, the government should assign a watcher to every citizen, whose job is to watch them and make sure they act correctly. This would have the dual effect of eliminating unemployment and making all of us safe and sound. It would stimulate the economy as the watchers would need watchers and the pressure to grow population would help the consumer economy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top