Man's Bridge Jump Leads to Death

Call me cuckoo, but could it be that the use of the bridge for suicides has only increased because of the repeated attempts to put some sort of barrier there? Before the bridge barrier proponents began their campaign, it was used very sporadically , and mostly by locals, aka SB County residents. Now it seems to be attracting out-of-town jumpers, and developing a louder reputation, all because of this useless anti-suicide campaign. Am I off-base?

Talk about a "Bridge to Nowhere" boondoggle... won't these suicidal people just find another way?

Why do we get a news article every time someone jumps from the bridge, but not for every other suicide in town?

I totally agree with CompetentObserver's post above. This is a media-manufactured problem.

Somewhere near the top of this story a human was mentioned.
Can we know a bit more about this man and who he was?
Bridges will always be bridges.
And when even the thought of Ben and Jerry's Cherries Garcia doesn't inspire a person to go on for just one more day.
I for one,want to know why.
I do not want to read about the bridge and all of it's political fodder.
Come on guys write the story and the story is about a human.

Bad E.

If someone wants to kill themselves they will do it. It would be a shame to put a barrier on the bridge and while it would reduce the number suicides from the bridge itself, how would we ever know if it actually saved a life? Be realistic! There are so many other things that county money should be spent on.

I am baffled at their wording, "fell to his death" and "upon their arrival he had already fallen." He didn't fall, he jumped! The word "fall" implies it was unintentional, an accident... suicide is NOT an accident.

The second suicide in a month calls out for a barrier. Perhaps it need not be as high as originally proposed but there should be something to deter suicides from THIS place, THIS bridge.

I was originally not in favor of a barrier because there were apparently very few, but now with three already this year....

It may be people will go elsewhere - who can know!!! But at least spending CalTrans (state, not county) money here would deter at that place and save County employees time (and money) from yet another hunt for a body, not to mention the horror that must have been felt by the motorists who saw the man sitting on the railing.

Most Caltrans projects just happen without a whole lot of publicity. The publicity here has come from the hue and cry initiated by Marc McGinnes and Garrett Glasgow, who are going against the great weight of scientific evidence that barriers *will* save lives.

Reagan said trees caused air pollution, Sarah Palin things global warming is not human-related, tobacco companies say cigarettes are safe, and industry says `Toxic Sludge is good for you'.

McGinnes and Glasgow say barriers won't save lives.

Lots and lots of first-responders already form a terrific human barrier at Cold Spring and they save somewhere between 1 and 10 *additional* lives for every jumper they miss. They're the ones who really care, and put their lives and careers on the line.

They're the ones who support the barrier. They're the ones who recommended action that might well have saved the lives of 3 jumpers this year, prevented hurt to many friends and family, and enabled the 3 jumpers to go on to happy productive lives.

There is a bridge somewhere up north that has a net underneath it... a barrier that is not seen from the top of the bridge. Perhaps something like that could be tried? Putting a barrier will not save lives, it will only cause people to find another place to jump from or another way to kill themselves. I knew someone who once jumped from the top of the Santa Barbara Courthouse tower... should we really deter folks from jumping from a remote bridge so that they think of the other high places around the area that they can jump from? The courthouse is awfully public and jumping from there to ones death causes a great deal more public trauma and also increases the danger for someone walking underneath it!

People commit suicide, that is a fact. It's not a happy fact but it happens. A young man committed suicide in my home last year by getting into my terminally ill father's medication and overdosing on it. He traumatized a great many people by choosing to do that. It could have been prevented from happening at MY house had the medication not been here but if it is something he truly wanted to do, it would have happened somewhere else.

People step in front of trains LOCALLY far more frequently than they jump off that bridge. Where is the public outrage about that issue??? Should we have high barbwired fences along every inch of the train tracks to prevent it? Think about how unrealistic that would be! Creating a barrier will mar the beauty of one of the most spectacular views in our area. It won't save lives, it will just drive suicidal people to find another high place to jump from or a train to step in front of.

Before this type of measure is taken it would be great to see if suicides actually were decreased in areas where high bridges were fitted with a barrier. Did suicides actually drop or were they just done in another manner? To find a solution that will prevent people from killing themselves we need to look at the reasons they do it, not where or how they do it! Putting a barricade does not address the sadness, desperation and obsessive need to flee ones problems, that is what often causes people to end their lives. Trust me, I know! The problem goes so much deeper than a bridge. Most people don't kill themselves on a whim, they think about it constantly first, they often try to talk to people about it and are ignored, they try to find a solution... create solutions to real life crisis and forget about the bridge!

>>"Before this type of measure is taken it would be great to see if suicides actually were decreased in areas where high bridges were fitted with a barrier. Did suicides actually drop or were they just done in another manner?<<<

A number of researchers have studied this question, and thus far nobody has found any evidence that barriers save lives. In particular, no study has found a drop in the number or rate of suicide in the communities around bridges once these bridges are fitted with barriers.

For more information:

http://www.polsci.ucsb.edu/faculty/glasg...

Sure, it is unrealistic to wall off all of the train tracks as well as the 101. Guess what: no one is arguing for that.

I'm puzzled, though, why does this mean the execution of something *realistic*, that is, putting a barrier on Cold Spring where the recent suicide rate is 5 per year, is a bad idea?

There is good evidence that barriers on popular bridges save lives. As for Garrett Glasgow's objections, they are sophistry. He knows darned well that it is statistically impossible to provide the evidence he requests.

I'm puzzled, though, why does this mean the execution of something *realistic*, that is, putting a barrier on Cold Spring where the recent suicide rate is 5 per year, is a bad idea?

============

Because it's a stupid waste of money, and nobody believes your imaginary evidence to the contrary.

Also, your obsession with Glasgow is getting a bit unhealthy. I predict a restraining order in your future.

Kratatoa, first responders (who clean up the mess after a jump and save 1-10 lives for every jump), psychologists, and Caltrans certainly believe the strong evidence that a barrier will save lives... maybe, given the recent events, as many as 5 per year.

Peculiar how the Friends of the Bridge are in denial and claim the rate is less than per year, when they know darned well that 1963 data is irrelevant... local population and car traffic has quadrupled since then. More of their statistical sophistry.

There has been no need for me to take out a restraining order against you, Glasgow, or McGinnes. I don't think there will be, but thanks for the heads-up.

So, you think the 1963 data is irrelevant? How about data from the last 3 years? Nobody jumped in 2006 and 2007, and 3 so far have jumped this year. So, if nobody else jumps this year, that's ... one per year.

But what you've done is take just the last few months and extrapolate that out to a claim that 5 people a year jump from the bridge. Then you immediately follow that up by accusing other people of "statistical sophistry."

I can only hope you're aware of how insultingly stupid that is, and that you've done it deliberately in order to get a rise out of people.

The exact quote is ``maybe, given the recent events, as many as 5 per year.'' Kratatoa, you are exaggerating.

Now in 1963 there were definitely fewer people near to the bridge, driving across the bridge, etc. No serious person would assume that the number of suicides in 1963 should be the same as in 2008.

Most likely decreases in Cold Spring suicides per population are attributable to the devoted first responder `human barrier' now in existence. And those first responders want a physical barrier.

As for `a rise', well, go study what Garrett Glasgow did for suicides off the bridge down in Pasadena. He systematically turns every statistical knob to get the result he is biased toward.

My Dad was a paramedic who responded once when someone had jumped. Unfortunately, Dad has always been very descriptive & he told us what he found. Not pretty by any means! However, he was called to respond to many suicides and the frequency even back then (in the 70's-80's) of people killing themselves in other ways, was way higher. The problems is NOT the bridge, it's depression, feeling helpless, etc. It's mental, not the bridge.

I love the bridge and having spent many summers camping up off paradise, it holds a great deal of sentiment for me. From the bridge there is a spectacular and almost dizzying view, it's a special place. Some people choose that as where they want their lives to end though so people want to ruin the bridge in order to pursuade them to die elsewhere.

I realize that nobody is talking about trains and barricading them because it would be impossible to have such a barrier running the length of the tracks. It's funny if you think about it though because I think that 5 IS the number of train deaths in SB this year... I'm not positive but I think recently I read that the number is something like that. Suicide by train is FAR more frequent than suicide by Cold Springs Bridge and if you think that is irrelevant than you are purely one-minded. Dad helped scrape more people off the tracks than he did from under that bridge and he said that trains tend to behead people and scatter pieces of them for a long ways... yeah, bodies get torn up from jumping off the bridge too but trains are more grizzly.

Again, the problem isn't how people are killing themselves, it's that they feel a need to. People jump off Niagara Falls all the time, for whatever reasons... some just want to control what their death is like while it seems like some people want to go out in a "blaze of glory"...destroying the view from the bridge will not prevent suicide. They will find another way to do it and it could be even more public, like stepping in front of the train, running across a busy freeway, jumping off of a tall public building, shooting themselves with a shotgun or engaging the police in a gun fight... etc.

There will never be any concrete way to track if the bridge barrier did any good and for that reason, more than the loss of an amazing view, I am totally against it. Decisions based on emotion and speculation, as opposed to being based on factual evidence, are wrong.

There is awfully strong evidence that barriers on bridges actually do save lives... Seiden, among others. Lots of factual evidence, but like most if not all social science research, it is not absolutely positively certain.

There is not even a nod toward safety around our train tracks... out where the young lady just died near El Encanto heights when she was crossing the 101, they've fixed the fence that protects the freeway, but left the train tracks wide open. Now that is a travesty....

The money for the pedestrian overcrossing was once there, but Gail Marshall voted to move that money to another lane for the southbound Storke Road onramp to101. That was not a safety issue...

santabarbarasand, there's no point in arguing with sevendolphins. He/she is completely divorced from reality on this issue, and will refuse to acknowledge even the most obvious points if it might mean we don't build the barrier. This obsession even extends to the point of flat-out lying.

For example, I went and looked up what Glasgow said about the Pasadena bridge. It is a single paragraph that points out that there's been a spike in suicides over the barrier down there, and urges Caltrans to study what's going on. It looks nothing like what sevendolphins has claimed.

I also just caught sevendolphins accusing people of statistically manipulating the suicide rate on the bridge, right after manipulating it him/herself to make it look like 5 per year.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg: personal attacks, deliberate distortions, and flat-out lies are standard procedure for sevendolphins. You can click on sevendolphins's name to see the past posting history. There is some shocking stuff in there.

The fact that the most ardent barrier supporter on this site hides behind the anonymity of the internet and shamelessly does these things should tell you all you need to know about the merits of this suicide barrier project.

Still
I wonder who this man was?
What was he going through that made him think that this was his only solution?
I will say this again.
This is about a human being.
Not a bridge.
People will always,ALWAYS find a way to kill themselves.
I am a surviver of a siblings suicide.
Once it is "decided",it may take weeks or months or even years. But they usually have a plan.
A closing statement.
Last words.
What were this mans last words,his last thoughts?
Why did he give up on life?
Are we ignoring each other to death?

Compare for yourself...

sevendolphins ``maybe, given the recent events, as many as 5 per year'' concerning Cold Spring.

Glasgow, Colorado Street... ``It should be noted that while barriers are generally effective at preventing suicides, this is not always the case. For instance, the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena has seen four suicides in the past year despite having suicide barriers in place. This is approximately three times the average rate of suicide in the period before the barrier was installed (based on newspaper reports, approximately 1.25 per year).''

Glasgow in no way is indefinite, in no way shows any knowledge that fluctuations can occur. He even computes to two significant digits the pre-barrier suicide rate. At least I qualify my phrase!

Barriers have been in place on the Colorado Street Bridge since 1993... but Glasgow cherry-picks the last year as his frame of reference, instead of looking at *all* the data between 1993 and now.

If Cold Spring had a barrier, there would be a good chance Mr. Aydelott would be alive, and we could ask him about his thoughts. That is what this is really about, not politics, not a bridge, but saving people's lives by getting a barrier on that bridge.

Good point emenzies... too much focus on the bridge and not enough on the fact that people commit suicide. Prevention is not about barriers on bridges or fencing off train tracks, it's about listening to people when they talk and understanding that what may seem like a small problem to us may mean the world to them and be too much for them to handle. Yes, suicidal people often think and plan for it for a lot of years before doing it, some young people do it impulsively, but the causation and prevention of this type of desperate and irreversible act is what matters.

The Santa Maria paper may have more personal details about him. Here, it's just another agendy... the bridge.

... and in typical sevendolphins fashion you left out the rest of that paragraph:

"In the event a barrier is installed on the Cold Spring Bridge this case should be studied to determine if this increase in suicides is due to a design flaw or an unforeseen maintenance issue with the barriers. However, this case may simply be an indication that barriers are unable to prevent determined individuals from committing suicide."

Instead of being presented as evidence that barriers are ineffective, Glasgow is presenting this as something to be considered IN THE EVENT THAT A BARRIER IS INSTALLED. There was an increase in the suicide rate from the bridge, and Glasgow urges Caltrans to study the cause and use that information when designing a barrier. This is obvious to anyone with basic reading comprehension skills.

Unbelievable. I point out you've been deliberately distorting what other people have said, and your response is to just do it again. Your lack of intellectual honesty is astounding.

The saddest thing about this is the next time this comes up, you'll make the same BS "cherry-picking" claim as if this never happened.

emenzies and sandatbarbarasand, here's the article that seems to have the most compete information about the victim:

http://www.timespressrecorder.com/articl...

Thanks for sharing that. There wasn't really much there but more than there was here. In fact, it talked more about the bridge than him there too!

I'll admit that I have had my share of suicidal thoughts, some ideation and plenty of depression. It goes through phases and I've been counseled & medicated for it. I've even contemplated the Cold Springs bridge but they are just thoughts, not compulsions or urges. If I were to kill myself it would be less dramatic and more private. The point of me sharing this is to illustrate that the thoughts I have had involving suicide had more to do with escape than anything else. People who follow through on suicidal thoughts usually do plan it out. If Cold Springs was closed, he would have picked another high place probably. There are so many to choose from in California... if there was a barrier on this particular bridge and he wanted to jump off anyways, he would have climbed it and instead of people calling to say he was sitting on the side, they would have called to say he was climbing it.

Now why didn't one of those drivers that saw him, stop & try to prevent it? I'm sure that the firemen got there fairly quickly, they have a station on 154 within like a 3-5 minute drive... but still, people drove by. Nowhere does it say how anyone stopped & tried to talk him out of it. I guess that I may be afraid to stop because what if that person tried to pull me over the bridge with him in his desperation?

I stand my my interpretation. Glasgow fails to mention the possibility that there is simply a fluctuation that causes the Colorado Bridge suicide cluster. His interpretation is that something is really going on, based on a one-year time window when a more thoughtful analysis would have been to look at the full data from 1993 through the present.

That is cherry-picking, that is, culling the data to try to sway people to your pre-determined view. Not the first time Glasgow did this... he also forgot to normalize his original plots, but someone in the stat community called him on it, and his plea was that the modest intelligences in Santa Barbara couldn't handle the proper treatment.

Now dear Krat, you take this too personally. You might consider being a bit more mature and lose the rants.

I guess that I may be afraid to stop because what if that person tried to pull me over the bridge with him in his desperation?
==============

In fact, the advice I've heard from some police officers I know is to not try to grab the suicidal person for exactly that reason. Call 911 and try to talk to them instead.

Thanks to emenzies, sandatbarbarasand, and Kratatoa for not forgetting the person involved in this story. Matt was easy going and easy for the kids to relate to. I'm sure like me, some of those kids have sought out articles to help us understand the "why" and have been met with others' crass comments. "Why" Santa Barbara? He loved SB and spent almost every weekend he could there. I will miss him and so will many of the kids whose lives he's touched over the years.

I Googled "Garrett Glasgow graph", and you probably won't be surprised to hear that sevendolphins's latest story is yet another lame attempt to distort what actually happened.

You know, I could go through everything sevendolphins has written and point out all the examples of hypocrisy, distortions, and circular logic in this most recent post alone, but I've got a feeling that everyone else is as bored with this guy as I am.

I'll admit that I have had my share of suicidal thoughts, some ideation and plenty of depression. It goes through phases and I've been counseled & medicated for it.
=========

santabarbarasand, I hope you don't find this too personal or forward, but ...

I was watching a documentary on 9/11 a few weeks ago, and they interviewed the wife of one of the people who died in the Twin Towers. Apparently this man had some health problems, and gave up on trying to escape. His wife said "I guess he didn't realize how important he was to us."

I know that you must be important to many people. Make sure you realize that, and don't give up.

bonhomous, thanks for coming here to tell us a little bit more about Matt. I must admit that a few of the crass comments are my fault. There's someone here who posts bizarre rants in any thread related to suicide and the Cold Spring Bridge, and I finally decided to call this person out.

However, I should have just let it go. The arguing back and forth is not what people want to read when they're remembering Matt.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend.

There is a good chance a barrier on the Cold Spring Bridge would have saved Mr. Ayeldott's life. I'd much rather have him alive and able to keep visiting Santa Barbara than have him jump from the Cold Spring Bridge. Everyone who is in favor of a barrier feels his death and all the other deaths from the Bridge deeply, but unlike the anti-barrier folks, we want to do something to reduce suicides and their tragic consequences.

As to Garrett Glasgow's statistical manipulations, look at this link:

http://mikekr.blogspot.com/2007/11/bad-g...

Glasgow did change the graph, only after he was caught. And his statistical argument got much weaker, although he doesn't bother to tell the local yokels that he was trying to fool about the whole issue...

He has never corrected his data culling concerning the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena.... he should use data from the entire 15 year interval 1993-2008, not just one year in that interval when there was a tragic cluster of jumpers.

You're right, I'm bored with sevendolphins.

I know that if I ever hurt myself it would damage people who care about me. Like I said, it's ideation more than an urge and as a logical person (most of the time) I'm aware of the difference. That people need me is both the reason that I feel overwhelmed and the reason that I struggle to hang in there. I can relate to both sides of the issue. If the man wanted to die he would have done it another way or elsewhere if he didn't do it here. He obviously decided he was done.

What was the last straw that pushed him to jump? That's the question. It's something his loved ones, and the kids he worked with, are puzzling over. Wondering if they could have prevented it or if there were signs that they missed. Not all suicidal people act depressed or talk about their feelings.... actually, I tend to think that they don't talk about it which is why they end up doing it. They seem to feel there is no better choice, no matter how irrational that may seem to those that love them. Or maybe they mention it and don't get the type of reaction or feedback that they require and they learn to keep it to themselves after that. I know both sides of that part of it as well. However, I've talked about it to counselors & made a few mentions to my family. Family do NOT know how to react... if anything they will say "we need you" when that is really what is the driving force to escape.

Let's put the money towards mental health and providing a way for people to get counseling when they cannot afford it. I don't mean the homeless here, I mean working people who have insurance but where it still costs $25-50 for each counseling session even with insurance. How bogus is that? If a person was depressed & worried about money to a point where they want to kill themselves, counseling isn't even an option! It's not an option for me, even though I work hard, I simply cannot afford it.

We do spend around $40,000,000 a year on mental health services in this county, and indeed, more should be spent.

The Bridge Barrier works out to about $70,000 a year. That is worth it.

Suicide has seriously touched my life. One repeated comment I've heard... if society doesn't care enough to remove dangerous situations, society must not care if people die in those situations. I care about preventing suicide and a barrier on Cold Spring will do as much to prevent suicide (per $) as anything else we do.

I don't think we, society via tax-funded measures, can come close in any realistic way to removing dangerous situations. I'm not sure about the various studies of bridges and displacement. I want to thank those who remembered this was a personal tragedy and I hope those who knew this man can come to an reconciliation over this. I'm from the northern part of the State but love this particular area and somehow this story has grabbed me even though I read there was a suicide by another local man not too many weeks earlier.

I remember the debate about requiring vitamin supplements in fortified wine... the argument in favor was... a cheap solution to help the health of people having a few problems. I thought it made sense... I don't think it ever happened though. Each individual does need care and attention, but protecting their liver and other organs gives you more time to get that care and attention.

The barrier on Cold Spring gives us more time. The ultimate help to someone is to give them more life from the more time. One of the reasons for Cold Spring is the terrible finality of the jump... just about no-one survives.

Sure, we can't fix every danger. But high bridges seem like a good place to deploy resources, just like... the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, etc.

Isn't it better for someone who is determined to commit suicide to do it from the Cold Springs bridge instead of jumping off an overpass where cars are speeding underneath? There is no need to involve others, except emergency personnel, who would be traumatized by hitting a jumper off an overpass.

The reality is that we can't save everyone from themselves.

I agree buckwheat. My son's cousin dove from an overpass head first into a car. Not only did that shock the family but it seriously impacted the driver of that vehicle I'm sure! Wish he had gone up to the bridge instead... at least then it would be more private!

I understand your point of view, but disagree with it. Such is life, huh? Sure would be boring if we all agreed all of the time. However, you didn't support your facts about the money for depression and it being available for working class people. I have medical insurance and a job therefore, I am NOT entitled to any help. I can assure you that I have tried MANY avenues to get help to pay for counseling and there are NOT resources for hardworking people. The man who jumped had a job and probably had medical insurance but bet he probably couldn't afford to pay for counseling either! There should be a better program in place for those of us who actually work. There are TONS of resources for welfare parents and unemployed/homeless people but not for those of us who work and yet still scrape by.

The bridge isn't the problem, people are. Guns don't kill people, people do when they use them irresponsibly... drugs don't kill people, people who misuse drugs do... bridges don't kill people, people who jump off them do... people aren't made to stay in the lines and that's what you, and others in your corner, are trying to do. You cannot force someone to live if they don't want to... as much as you wish you could. Emotion cannot contain free will......

Suicide has seriously touched my life.

===============

sevendolphins, it all makes sense now. I was baffled as to why you were going to such extreme, illogical lengths to defend the barrier and attack those who were simply pointing out the facts. Now I understand that this is not a logical issue for you, but an emotional one.

The fact is that the scientific evidence strongly supports a barrier, which will reduce the overall suicide rate.

Here is a link to the an obituary for the SLO man who took his own life recently...

http://meghanbrooks.blogspot.com/2008/09...

Thanks CentralCaFan... Meghan Brooks blog has a photo of Mr. Aydelott. I wish we did not lose him, he was a fine, fine person.

The barrier issue is only one of politics because all public projects are political. The core issue is saving lives like Mr. Aydelott's.

The very small number of Golden Gate Bridge jump survivors do support bridge barriers.

The fact is that the scientific evidence strongly supports a barrier, which will reduce the overall suicide rate.
===============

sevendolphins, I understand that this is something you need to believe right now, and is something you will continue to believe no matter what the evidence actually says. How else can we explain the quote above, when even the authors of these studies say their work shouldn't be interpreted that way?

Maybe with the passage of time you will get some perspective on this issue and be able to understand what the scientific literature actually says.

Peace.

The scientific literature strongly supports the use of barriers to save lives. Nothing is absolute, of course, and the final 1% (or so) gap between `strong' and `unequivocal' might be a matter of belief.

Equally, though, the naysayers who argue the 99% (or so) chance that barriers save lives down to `no evidence' are also acting on their beliefs.

A portion of the naysayers argument results from wanting suicidal people to have freedom to commit suicide. It is true that I believe that any rash act of suicide is aberrant.

I've known one or two folks who make elaborate preparations for their suicide, including wills, care to expire in an easily transportable body bag and coffin, backup systems in case the first method fails, etc.

Those people don't jump off bridges.

Who are you people?

I seriously do not understand how you can reconcile your opposition to this public safety issue with a life in which you coexist with other human beings.

And I don't know exactly what it is that you think that you have here with this bridge because I have been to it and it is just a barren stretch of highway no different from the road that leads to and away from it. The only vantage point that is in any way beautiful is the one from underneath the bridge, from a point that is far enough away from the proposed barrier that the view of the bridge from that point would be virtually unchanged if the barrier were to be built.

Besides that, even if the bridge offered the most incredible vista, I do not understand how you could stomach looking out over it knowing the grief, suffering and pain that have taken place because of the bridge's inability to prevent people from falling from it.

I do not know who you are, but I know that you have opposition and that you are not on the side of good in this matter. I sincerely hope that you fail in your effort to prevent the construction of the barrier and that you never have to lose someone to this bridge.

And to the people who seem to imply that because there is no outrage over the prevention of suicides by other means, there should be nothing done about this bridge I can only say that there should be outrage over any and all suicides, especially those that could have been prevented by the implementation of a barrier by the public. This is most imperative with methods of suicide that don't offer the person who makes the choice to end their life the chance to change their mind once they have taken that step. Once the step over a bridge is made, it can't be unmade, so the chance to make that step should always be prevented. And if people move from a bridge with a barrier to a bridge without, then we should continue to build barriers until there are no more bridges that allow people to die.

Allowing suicides to continue at Cold Spring bridge has real human costs:

- A local historic landmark has become a monument to tragedy and grief.

- Law enforcement, safety, and search and rescue personnel are *unnecessarily* diverted from other emergencies and placed in potentially hazardous situations, at the expense of taxpayers, when responding to suicides and suicide attempts at this location.

- Individuals who have died at the bridge are not statistics, but people; the importance of these individuals to their families, friends, and communities, and their contribution to the quality of life in the local area, cannot be overestimated.

- Continuing to allow preventable deaths to occur at this location is unethical and violates the public safety provision of the state constitution.

GET THE FACTS.
http://www.stopthetragedy.org/

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/51/suppor...

ATTEND THE HEARING.
Thursday October 16 2008 at 8:30 AM, Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 4th Floor, 105 E. Anapamu Street

Stop the tragedy at Cold Spring Bridge. Support the safety barrier.

The only tragedy at the Cold Spring Bridge is that Caltrans is about to divert $3.2 million bucks from the highway safety budget to a "safety project" that isn't proven to do anything.

Oh, and nice rip-off of the Friends of the Bridge website. Here were my favorite parts:

>>>>In a number of studies that have directly examined the overall suicide rate in a surrounding area following installation of a barrier at a particular location, the data show a decrease in suicides (by any method, including jumping at other locations), although this decrease does not reach statistical significance (e.g., Bennewith et al., 2007).<<<<

Does. Not. Reach. Statistical. Significance. Game over, thanks for playing. And let's not mention the cases where the suicide rate went up, OK?

>>>>>As jumping as a method of suicide is relatively uncommon, failure to obtain statistical significance may simply be due to a lack of power, i.e., to the variance in the overall number of suicides over time (the change in number of suicides from one time interval to the next) being greater than the number of suicides by jumping in a given time interval.<<<<<

Or it may be because barriers don't do a thing.

>>>>Article 13, Section 35: The protection of the public safety is the first responsibility of local government and local officials have an obligation to give priority to the provision of adequate public safety services.<<<<

You mean, like spending highway safety money on highway safety projects?

>>>>More deaths have occurred at Cold Spring Bridge than at any other single location in the Caltrans District 5 area during this time period (Caltrans DEIR, 2008). <<<<<

Nobody knows this, since Caltrans hasn't even done this basic research.

>>>>>No formal opinion survey has been carried out in the Caltrans District 5 area to determine the extent of local public support for the project.<<<<<

Gee, I wonder why?

Since I mentioned Glasgow's name, I predict sevendolphins will cut and paste some stuff from this thread accusing him of "statistical manipulations" and "cherry-picking data." In this thread from last year I showed how ridiculously dishonest those statements were.

I also made a prediction. On September 15, 2008 I wrote:

"The saddest thing about this is the next time this comes up, you'll make the same BS "cherry-picking" claim as if this never happened."