Suicides
The bridge's height and pedestrian access make it a popular location for suicide jumpers. Since construction, there have been over 230 completed suicides from the bridge, with nearly 50 deaths occurring in the decade 1995-2005. The first suicide occurred in January 1932, when a shoe salesman leapt from the bridge before it was completed.
Numerous reports have been written about the high incidence of suicide on the bridge, many of them using the bridge as a case study in fields ranging from suicide prevention to the effects of prehospital care on trauma victims.
Despite the force of impact, jumpers occasionally survive the fall from the bridge, though not without sustaining serious injuries.
News sources have referred to the George Washington Memorial Bridge as a suicide bridge and, in December 2006, six emergency phones and 18 signs were installed on the bridge to encourage people to seek help instead of jumping. In late 2006 a group of community activists and political leaders living near the bridge created the Fremont Individuals and Employees Nonprofit to Decrease Suicides (FRIENDS), their primary focus being the installation of a suicide barrier on the bridge.
In 2007, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire allocated $1.4 million in her supplemental budget for the construction of an 8-foot (2.4 m) high suicide prevention fence to help reduce the number of suicides on the bridge. Construction of the fence began in Spring 2010 and was completed in February 2011, at a total cost of $4.8 Million.
Read more about this topic: George Washington Memorial Bridge
Famous quotes containing the word suicides:
“Most suicides are committed with a knife and fork.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.
“Don’t look now, God, we’re all right.
All the suicides are eating Black Bean Soup;
the Dalmatians, our turnip, our spotted parasite
snoozles in her chair.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren’t in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)