are there that many suicides off of the aurora bridge? or are the bodies damaging property below? i mean, that's a pretty steep cost...

I think I heard something on the news this morning about the Aurora Bridge being second only to the Golden Gate in terms of suicides??? Can that be right?

Um, it's not a steep cost if it's your loved one jumping.

I think the Aurora Bridge gets one or two jumpers a year. Most hit the land, not the water. There's an apartment building down there you couldn't pay me to live in.

i'm not trying to be insensitive. i'm just wondering how safe can you make everything?

you needn't make suicide easy (for those who think adults shouldn't have the right to choose how they die -- and, of course, considering not everyone is mentally stable), but you cannot protect people from themselves everywhere -- every bridge, every road, every pharmacy, every store that sells knives...

I say skip the fence. If someone is going to commit suicide, is a fence really going to stop them?

I consider the Aurora Bridge jump one of our local attractions.

@3 - There were, by the last count that I saw, seven Aurora jumpers in 2006.

@4 - I'm guessing the fence is more for the people living and working underneath the bridge. Most of that span is over land. If everyone jumping off the Aurora Bridge landed in the water, then they probably wouldn't do anything about it.

And they didn't do anything about it for the 70-plus years that it was docks, warehouses, and industrial land underneath.

I blame condos and yuppies from Idaho and Montana for ruining a perfectly good suicide-bridge.

Blame Adobe. The jumpers keep landing in their parking lot. A friend who used to work there told me more than one story about bodies being found there.

Check out the comments thread attached to the story and find out how this ties into the war between Eastern and Western WA.

Where the hell did this "yuppies from Idaho and Montana" thing start, and how did I miss it?

A meme is a terrible thing to waste.

I'm from Idaho, my roommate is from Montana and neither of us became yuppies until we moved to Seattle.

@4 I actually think that we should fence just the areas that are over land. People are going to commit suicide in Seattle by jumping off structures, and if they land in the water, no one's inconvenienced. If they end up in Adobe's parking lot, that sucks for everyone, and if they jump onto I-5, that just fucks everyone's day up.

@ 13, they could hit someone's yacht, a kayaker, or the gravel barge that sails through every afternoon...

Fencing off the Aurora bridge is kind of like pushing the drunks out of Pioneer Square. The drunks just move elsewhere. If someone wants to commit suicide, and the Aurora bridge is inconveniently fenced off, they'll just find an alternative method or location. Or climb the fence.

The City should designate an officially-sponsored suicide bridge of suitable height, but on a low enough volume street so that those who can't commit won't snarl traffic.

Instead of a fence, they could provide a free shuttle service to Tacoma Narrows or Deception Pass.

Yes, they jump off the Aurora Bridge.

Yes, it's one of the highest suicide bridges, and the Golden Gate gets more.

But shutting down the bridge will just cause them to jump off something else.

We already added phones.

If you want to help, how about installing Wind Powered Sun Lamps so people can feel better?

Prozac for the Masses!

@14:

Not to mention the possibility of churning up a "floater" with your prop - very, very messy that.

Besides, I think a "black capsule" dispenser would be more economical.

And re: the D.C. fire. The Eisenhower Building has to be one of the most Gawd-awful hideous architectural designs I've ever seen - imagine a sandcastle version of a Louis XVI palace designed by someone with OCD - so, unless it contained a bunch of secret gubamint files that would put shrub and Co. behind bars, I say burning it to the ground would be no great loss.

Suicide booths!

I'm all for saving lives but...I just want someone to explain how one fence on one bridge costs $1.4 million dollars.

Because it has to be designed by engineers, and built by highway construction crews. Just because you can put up a lopsided fence in your yard in a weekend doesn't mean that's what they do on major bridges.

A suicide booth with a nice blanket inside, and maybe a snack. Might save a few...

@23 I understand that Fnarf, but it still seems steep. I guess it is a pretty long bridge though.

And you over-estimate me. I couldn't build a lopsided fence in a month.

Adaptation. God what a good movie.

@25: Steel is very expensive right now. It also gets stolen off construction sites all the time, because it is so expensive.

What would really help, though, is S*ma dispensers (* = o) at the ends of the bridge. [I can't write out the whole word because the spam filter deletes the post. Damn.]

If the fence is being put up for the benefit of people who live and work in Fremont, I'm all for it, but I do object to putting so much energy into saving people from themselves. It reminds me of an anecdote about a photographer who saved a suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge. She struggled with him, bit him, even tried to scratch his eyes out. If someone's really that determined to end their life, then why not just let them?

@25 - It's also two fences, not one, since blocking only one side probably wouldn't have the desired effect.

@28 : Because of its effect on others. People who jump off bridges don't just disappear into a wormhole. They have to land somewhere. In view of potentially hundreds of people. And need scooping up afterwards.

I propose we use the $1.4 million to build a giant trampoline under the bridge.

I hope they don't have the astonishing ability to climb over a fence.

@ 32, the fence likely will go up and then curve over the sidewalk, so they'll have to have the ability to climb the fence while hanging upside down.

Suicide (Don't do it!)

@30,

Yeah, that's why I don't have a problem with a fence on the Aurora bridge, but on the Golden Gate, the odds are that the jumper will wind up in the water.

Geesh. Does America think a fence will fix everything in this country?

i don't feel so guilty about seeming insensitive any longer. thank you slog! who needs guilt?!?!

Maybe not everything, #36, but it will keep the illegals from committing suicide.

Why should I care if somebody jumps off a bridge to kill themselves? Good riddance!

Why are my tax dollars being spent on this?

Are you going to put tylenol behind a glass case it's too easy to swallow a whole bottle with the same intent?

The money can be better spent in other ways. Mental Health Care would be one of them.

Treat the cause of the problem, not the symptoms.

@18: This suggests that people won't necessarily just find something else to jump off of:
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/1/57

@39... don't you mean, a mental health care fence would be one of them???

@40,

That's a pretty crappy study. I mean just look at their findings.

Results: 14 suicides from the bridge were identified; all occurred before installation of the safety fence. The number of suicides by jumping from other structures remained unchanged after installation of the fence.

Conclusion: The safety fence was effective in preventing suicides from the bridge. There was no evidence that suicidal individuals sought alternative sites for jumping.

OK, did they analyze the number of suicides in that area in the same time period? Was there an increase in intentional carbon monoxide poisonings, self-inflicted gunshot wounds, slitting of wrists in the bathtub?

There were only 14 jumpers before the installation of the fence. So, if there was an insignificant change/no change in the number of other types of suicide, the sample size isn't large enough to ensure that it wasn't a fluke.

Maybe there's a subset of suicidal people who have to go out a certain way, either a jump off a bridge or no suicide at all, but I've yet to see any evidence of it. I'd also like to see if a construction of a new bridge leads to an increase in suicides.

People who really want to kill themselves will do it. Why are we getting rid of (probably) the most enjoyable way to do it?

28:

I'm sorry, she bit him? That's amazing. Who bites someone to try to prevent their suicide? I would love to hear/read the thought process of that.