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Another person jumps off the Tobin Bridge
By adamg on Tue, 03/03/2015 - 10:04pm
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports on an incident shortly before 7:30 p.m.:
State Police detectives assigned to the Suffolk DA's office, along with uniformed troopers and specialized State Police units, are on the upper deck of the Tobin Bridge and on the street below in Charlestown for a death investigation involving an adult who left a motor vehicle and went over the rail. The preliminary evidence does not suggest foul play, but the investigation is still in its early stages.
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Comments
Protective fence?
I know the Full Moon is Thursday. Not sure if this is related to the many suicides I've heard of this week. I will ask again, why do the Cape Cod bridges have the tall fences, curved at the top, to prevent anyone from jumping while the Tobin, to the best of my recollection, has mere waist high railings? I agree with those who have commented on the numerous suicides by train, that those truly intent on death will find a way, just seems the Tobin could prevent/delay many with proper fencing.
The fences are not for jumpers.
The fences are to keep morons from throwing things off the bridges onto the cars below. As I recall they were first installed in the late 70s or early 80s as the result of two idiot kids dropping a cinder block onto I-495, which went straight through a windshield and killed the driver.
Maybe but...
as a kid I always remember the fences on the Bourne Bridge and the big sign on the up-ramp for the Samaritans.
I'd guess that the reason the
I'd guess that the reason the Tobin does not have those railings is that it does not have pedestrian access while the Sagamore and Bourne bridges each have a sidewalk.
cf drug war
If someone wants to kill themselves, they will. They'll just find another way, another place. You're not going to stop someone from committing suicide with technological barriers any more than drug addiction is being cured by the drug war. These are social/health problems that need a public health response.
Finally! Someone who is
Finally! Someone who is addressing the root of the cause of most suicides, kids falling out of cars while their shoplifting mothers and boyfriends are escaping police, robberies, thefts, hepatitis C, use of public/restaurant bathrooms to shoot up, overdoses prompting taxpayers to foot the bill of EMTs armed with Narcon, etc., ....and that is the growing number heroin/narcotic addicts who go to all lengths to feed their addiction.
Yes, but...
A tall fence will make it much harder if not impossible to kill oneself by jumping off the bridge. If you delay someone taking such a drastic action, you greatly increase the odds of their coming to the realization that it was a bad idea in the first place.
I agree, but as someone whose
I agree, but as someone whose cousin jumped off a bridge at midnight on Christmas Day, days after he had gotten his oil changed and asked my aunt to mail him something, there is something to be said for helping to reduce impulse decisions, especially when they're brought on by alcohol/drugs/holiday-induced sadness.
To this person's friends and family: I am so, so sorry for your loss.
Research shows you're wrong
Research studies have actually shown that reducing access to methods of suicide reduces suicide. Common sense may lead you to think that if you don't have access to a gun you'll use a bridge, and if not a bridge you'll use drugs, and so on, but for many people attempting suicide that's just not true at all.
Right, exactly
Some suicides are impulsive. Some people will never do it if the impulse passes.
Given how frequently people jump off the Tobin, a tall fence seems like a reasonable deterrent.
Partially true, but very misleading
I'm told that this is not true, and that deterrents such as fences (combined with access to help, like the Samaritans sign) do stop suicides. Your whole premise, "If someone wants to kill themselves", is flawed from the get-go -- people don't want to kill themselves, but sometimes they like the alternative less. If they can be slowed down, shown an alternative, if someone can reach out to them at the right moment...yes, that does stop suicide. Police officers, EMS, bypassers talk people out of jumping. With a few clues and some compassion, there are good outcomes -- that's your "public health response" right on the scene, right?
Wrong!
Bridge barriers have been demonstrated to significantly reduce the incidence of jumping. If a person can be dissuaded from committing suicide, they'll often reconsider and decide to live, after all.