[MadCore]

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It's been five years since the Golden Gate Bridge District agreed to build a suicide barrier. But it wasn't until Monday that they said they finally have the money to get the job done.

The Golden Gate Bridge's General Manager announced Monday he has a funding plan in place for a suicide prevention net. The cost -- $76 million. But where will the money come from, and will tolls increase as a result?

The ABC7 News Investigative Team first reported in February that 2013 was a record year for suicide -- 46 people died jumping off the bridge. And since then, the team has been overwhelmed with questions on social media about the suicide netting. Here are answers to the top seven questions sent in by viewers.

Question 1: How will the suicide net work?

Three-and-a-half miles of marine-grade steel wire will line both sides of the Golden Gate, 20 feet down from the walkway and 20 feet across. If someone were to jump to the net, the impact would injure them.

Denis Mulligan, Golden Gate Bridge District General Manager, tells the I-Team, "For whatever reason, suicidal people don't want to hurt themselves, they want to die. The thought of jumping into a steel net down 20 feet has proven to be completely effective in a whole host of other locations."

Mulligan says in other cities that use a similar system on their bridges, the suicides flat out stopped.

Question 2: Won't people just find some other way to take their lives?

Mulligan says studies show 90 percent of people who were stopped at the Golden Gate before they jumped went on to live long lives, without committing suicide in another way.

Noyes: "So, you're saying that people seem to fixate on the Golden Gate, if they can't commit suicide there, perhaps they won't."
Mulligan: "That's what many researchers have studied, that's what they've concluded."

Question 3: How will they retrieve someone after they land on the net?

The bridge district is studying options, including a special truck that would lower an arm down to the net.

But Mulligan says, "We're now meeting with the local emergency responders and we may come up with a different method to rescue people from the net."

Question 4: Will the $76 million cost of the suicide net lead to another toll increase?

Mulligan says, "No," that $20 million will come from bridge district reserves, $7 million from state mental health funds, and most of it -- $49 million -- from the federal government.

Mulligan told the I-Team, "As recently as two years ago, it was not eligible to receive any federal highway funds. Fortunately, there was a change in federal law."

Question 5: Will the suicide net affect the beauty of the Golden Gate?

Mulligan answered, "It will be visible from the vista points on the two ends of the bridge, but people who drive across the bridge will not know that it's there, people who are down in Crissy Field or in the Marin Headlands will not see the net because it will blend in with the rest of the bridge."

Question 6: Could the netting strain the bridge structure because of the wind?

Mulligan points to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State that bucked wildly in 40 mile per hour winds before it collapsed.

The Golden Gate will undergo a "wind retro-fit" to accommodate the suicide nets.

Mulligan says, "Long span bridges, the cross section, the handrails, the deck, the shape of the trusses, the boxes below, are like an air foil or a wing. And little changes are like changing the flap on a wing."

Question 7: When will it be done?

The bridge board votes on its $20 million share this Friday. It should easily pass, and if it goes as planned, the suicide netting will be in place by the end of 2017 or early 2018. One of the board members who has been pushing for the suicide net for decades had a grandson who died at the Golden Gate, earlier this month.

Source: http://abc7news.com/news/top-7-quest...go-post-135337

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How about using that money for health care and preventing people from wanting to kill themselves?

[bob351]

This worked in toronto with our suicide bridge, it has the most suicides of any bridge second only to the golden gate.

We used unclimbable metal rods instead though:

[Kanda444]

Originally Posted by MadCore ↗

How about using that money for health care and preventing people from wanting to kill themselves?

people travel from all over just to kill themselves there... those people wouldnt benefit from mental health changes in the city of San Francisco. if crisis counselling worked for suicidal people, then they wouldnt need to add anything.. they already have these:



we're talking 1,600 suicides off that bridge as of 2012....in 2013, there were 46 suicides, with an additional 118 attempts prevented. The Golden Gate Bridge is the second-most used suicide site/suicide bridge in the world, after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge... so this is a issue of stopping suicides on a suicide icon, not a regional mental health issue.....

ideally, money should be spent on both a suicide barrier and on mental health, it's just that cutting funding for the barrier and spending it on the medical community wont have an effect on the number of suicides on the bridge.

[MadCore]

Thanks for the info Kanda444 . As a foreigner I had no clue about any place being some kind of suicide headquarters. That sounds awful. Why would people travel to end their days there? Because it's certain?

[Kanda444]

Originally Posted by MadCore ↗

Thanks for the info Kanda444 . As a foreigner I had no clue about any place being some kind of suicide headquarters. That sounds awful. Why would people travel to end their days there? Because it's certain?

no problem

yeah, because the success rate is extremely high there. i only know so much about it because i watched that older doco on it and there was a song i used to like that mentioned the 'four second' fall.

[Nite]

If I watched the 49ers play I would throw myself off the bridge too.

OHAI Kanda

[Kanda444]

Originally Posted by Nite ↗

If I watched the 49ers play I would throw myself off the bridge too.

OHAI Kanda

you, dirty motha fucka

[Pyramid_Head]

Sounds like a major waste of money. If people really want to commit suicide, I say let them.

[Kanda444]

Originally Posted by Pyramid_Head ↗

Sounds like a major waste of money. If people really want to commit suicide, I say let them.

i think the point here is that they dont want it to affect others, the community or the ecosystem, which it does in this case.

im very pro suicide for those that wish to... they shouldnt be stopped if that's what they choose to do... but when they do it off the bridge, they risk having children or other people that dont wish to see a suicide have to watch. the fall isnt always fatal, so emergency crews then waste funds rescuing these people. if they do succeed in killing themselves, their body is now in a fairly heavily used water way. they also risk injuring people that might be under the bridge on a boat or other craft that dont notice a jumper falling.

[BigFoot]

I remember watching the Documentary too. Are you referring to the one that had the long haired guy in all black and a black coat that committed suicide there? He was majestic as fuck.