Highway to hell loses Golden Gate onramp

[Lancer]

Click this, cuz the story is kinda weak otherwise.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4931880.ece


Golden Gate bridge in San Fransico gets safety net to deter suicidesJames Bone, New York
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, one of the world's most beautiful spots, is also the most popular place to commit suicide.

Since it opened in 1937, more than 1,300 people have leapt to their deaths in San Francisco Bay — more than anywhere else on Earth.

Last year 38 people jumped off the bridge. Another 19 have killed themselves there so far this year, including Olivia Crowther, 23, a University of Sussex graduate from Gloucestershire who flew to San Francisco after surfing suicide websites.

Now, the bridge authority has decided finally to hang a circus-like safety net beneath the bridge to catch jumpers.

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The decision follows decades of debate between mental health experts, who argued that would-be suicides could be saved, and architectural preservationists, who wanted to save the bridge from an unsightly addition.

The ruling was influenced by a public outcry over the 2007 documentary The Bridge, which was blamed for a surge in suicides. Using cameras with telephoto lenses, the director Eric Steel filmed 23 of the 24 suicides on the bridge in 2004.

Among those who campaigned for a barrier was Kevin Hines, who was featured in the film and is one of only 28 people known to have survived the 67m (220ft) drop.

Mr Hines, who had bipolar disorder, spent 40 minutes crying on the bridge without being approached by anyone except a German tourist, who asked if he would take her photograph. Recalling the incident, he said: “I hurtled over the railing with my hands and I was falling headfirst. The second my hands left the bar of the railing I said, 'I don't want to die. What am I going to do? This is it. I'm dead'.

“So I said, 'Well, maybe if I get feet-first, maybe, maybe I'll live.' So I thought, 'All right, it's worth a shot'.

“I pushed myself back somehow. I landed literally like I was sitting down, maybe a little more elevated with the legs. I hit with my feet. I guess the water treaded through my boots a little bit, so maybe helped the impact. The boots were pretty tough. I went down about 40-50 feet. Didn't know which way was up or down. I thought, 'Am I still alive?' Because it's, like, a four to seven-second fall.” The plastic-coated steel safety net will be the same colour as the bridge and will hang six metres below the roadway and extend six metres from each side. It could still take years to install because the $50 million (£29.6million) funding has to be found and a study has to be conducted on the net's impact on birds.

[DaShi]

Good, maybe now they'll start running in traffic.

[Lancer]

No, they'll continue their normal lives. Lets try to be a little positive here Dashi.

[Winston]

Safety nets, hum. Why not install some giant trampolines angled so that they'll catapult people back - or, alternatively a set of trampolines to gently deliver people at either shore.

Financing via cable TV rights.

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Or you could just let people jump like they please. I don't see what the big deal is. They're not hurting anyone else.

[DaShi]

All I'm saying is that you're not going to be able to stop people from killing themselves. So the government might as well legalize it and tax it.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Winston
Safety nets, hum. Why not install some giant trampolines angled so that they'll catapult people back - or, alternatively a set of trampolines to gently deliver people at either shore.

Financing via cable TV rights.

---

Or you could just let people jump like they please. I don't see what the big deal is. They're not hurting anyone else.

The state is liable for building bridges.

Dashi, these people are jumping because of taxes...well...women then taxes.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Winston
Safety nets, hum. Why not install some giant trampolines angled so that they'll catapult people back

Ah, don't you just love the sound of human bodies slamming back up against a bridge?

[Theben]

They'll find another way to kill themselves.

[-Jrabbit]

Excellent thread title, Lancer.

[SlowwHand]

I think, and I could be wrong, that a body drops at like 30 feet per second. Off a bridge like Golden Gate, that's a long time.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Theben
They'll find another way to kill themselves.

Yes...but maybe while they're wandering around trying to find it, they'll change their minds.

[Lancer]

It might promote tourism to other states with bridges.

[Winston]

Yes...but maybe while they're wandering around trying to find it, they'll change their minds.

Maybe they'll even win the lottery and donate it all to charity before they change their minds again.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I think, and I could be wrong, that a body drops at like 30 feet per second. Off a bridge like Golden Gate, that's a long time.

Are you talking about how fast objects fall due to gravity? That's 32.2 ft/sec/sec, which is a rate of acceleration, not a velocity.

Wiki says the bridge is 220 feet up. That means you hit the water after a little more than 3 seconds, going something like 100 feet/sec.

Edit: Not counting air resistance and the distinct possibility that my math is just woefully wrong.

[Winston]

And that is why it should be mandatory for severely depressed people to carry two unfolded umbrellas and wear really wide skirts, regardless of gender.

It would also save them from having to answer to inquiries like "Hey man! How are you today?"

[snoopy369]

I think it takes more like 4 seconds to fall neglecting air resistance, 5-6 including air resistance, with a top speed around 130ft/sec neglecting air resistance. But that's also off-the-cuff math so probably just as wrong as Lori's.

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I think, and I could be wrong, that a body drops at like 30 feet per second. Off a bridge like Golden Gate, that's a long time.

Bodies fall at 30 feet per second squared, i.e., it falls faster on the 2nd second, faster yet on the third, and so on. Eventually a human body will reach such a speed (fatal velocity) that any impact, even with water, will kill it. Specific water entry methods can mitigate this impact, but for most folks, that kind of thing happening is extremely rare.

A net at the Golden Gate just sends determined jumpers to the Bay Bridge. For a person determined to die, this is not a real long walk. Tell me why we care enough to spend $50 million and then endless maintenance fees. If someone is determined enough to die to walk to a big, somewhat remote (in terms of walking patterns) bridge, do we really believe landing in the net is going to stop the motivation.

Heck, if SF puts in the net, all kinds of folks will want to dive into the net for the thrill.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I think it takes more like 4 seconds to fall neglecting air resistance, 5-6 including air resistance, with a top speed around 130ft/sec neglecting air resistance. But that's also off-the-cuff math so probably just as wrong as Lori's.

I did some more math. You were closer. Looks like 3.69 seconds and a final velocity of 119 ft/sec. Again, this all assumes no air resistance and that I remember anything from my high school science classes.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Lancer
It might promote tourism to other states with bridges.

I am you would even joke about something like this?

Tell me it isn't so, your not serious?

Originally posted by Lancer
Dashi, these people are jumping because of taxes...well...women then taxes.

This seems so offensive, even for YOU Lancer.

I can believe you would say something this serious, a person jumping to end their life, and joke that it was over taxes or even innocent women as the cause.

This is a new low, even for you.

I am stunned and feel sorrow not only for the victims but also for you, to think suicide is funny, shame on you lancer, fer shame, fer shame, fer shame

[Main_Brain]

During the building of the Bridge there were safety nets installed to reduce work fatalities.

[Lorizael]

Making fun of things