4th suicide from bypass bridge

I didn't claim to be Nostradamus but after walking the bypass bridge during the grand opening ceremony, I did predict this would be happening. They made it so easy to jump.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada transportation officials are considering ways to curb suicides at the Hoover Dam bypass bridge after a fourth person plunged from the bridge walkway to the Colorado River.
Full story here:

http://www.rgj.com/viewart/20120727/NEWS/307270046/Hoover-Dam-bridge-suicides-spurring-NDOT-review

On the right is the pedestrian walkway and you can see the railing on the right is not that high. This was the day before the bridge opened. The left side is the actual highway that people were allowed to walk on that day. Just ahead, there is a parking lot, so you can park your car, walk to the center of the bridge and jump.

 

Many of us who have visited the bypass bridge knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. Surprising that the officials didn't plan for this when the bridge was being built. The GG bridge also was upgraded to try to prevent suicides. Higher walls, safety nets below, suicide boxes throughout the bridge.

When I walked the bypass bridge I also looked straight down and thought how easy it was to get up and jump.

 

a dozen call boxes huh...

 

Give me a jingle before you jump.

 

Ever been in the 20+ story inside of the Luxor? I am surprised not many jump in there, that would even be easier.

 

yeah I was trying to figure out the point...are they for pedestrians to call for help if they see someone attempting to jump or are they for the jumpers looking for a last-second voice of reason

after crashing below people might think you were just a prop in Carrot Top's show...no one wants that distinction LOL

 

Niagara Falls has been around a lot more then any of us....yet not that many folks jump there.......

 

It does not happen as often as you would think, but it HAS happened. In 1996 a woman jumped from the 26th floor inside the Luxor and landed at the entrance to the buffet:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1996/sep/26/woman-commits-suicide-inside-luxor/

 

A pity they can't outfit the bridge with the trick they used in Niven & Pournelle's Oath of Fealty.*






* - The story is set in an archology in central LA 1200 feet high. They knew it would draw suicides from all over the world, so they fenced off the edge except in one place, where the fencing leads you to...

a diving board.

Todos Santos Security keep a pool going as to how many chicken out and how many go through with it. Don't worry -
diving from the board triggers a net that comes out and grabs the jumper.

 

Ah the terror. As a society, we need to accept that suicides will happen, and for some odd reason, high profile locations are demonised. The issue isn't that the bridge is a safety hazard, simply that it becomes an attractive location for folks that have fallen into a darkness that thankfully most of us will never understand. Suicide is a cowardly act. Many of us have reached the point in life where suicide becomes at least a thought. Thankfully, most of us choose inner strength over the path of least resistance.

Nick

 

Check please.

 

$5 says the majority of the people in the buffet kept going back for crab legs until the police shooed them out.

 

If someone is jumping off tall buildings and bridges then maybe we should ban building them so tall. At least that is the logic many people take.

 

Yup, I haven't a clue as to the purpose of the call boxes. I just mentioned it in my post because it doesn't seem like the bypass bridge has any of those things for suicides and I was surprised that it was so easy to take a leap off the bridge.