ptempel

I first heard it from a fellow commuter, Carmen. Just looked it up and sure enough, it seems to be happening:

After 86 years and countless deaths, suicide fence coming to GWB | NJ.com

I didn't know about the 45 cases that were prevented earlier this year.

Edit: Here's another link with a video: Suicide Prevention Fence Coming To George Washington Bridge Walkway « CBS New York

ptempel

Today was the first day that we used the north sidewalk. I heard that it will be about three months befroe they will open the south side up. Not a big deal. Just four stairs for the north sidewalk.

Darth Lefty 

This is also amazing to this engineer:
I had no idea that was even possible. It's like the ship of Theseus

FBinNY 

I hate to come off like the cold hearted Bastrd that I am, but this is sort of ridiculous.

Of course if/when a fence is installed and folks can't jump off the bridge, the proponents will point to all the lives saved.

But do we really believe that the suicidal are so dumb as to be stymied? Will they walk out onto the bridge, see the fence and say to themselves "Oh damn, It's not going to be this easy, I guess I'll go on living"

Let's get real, someone may be suicidal, but that doesn't make them so dumb that they can't or won't find another high place, or another method entirely.

All this does is move the problem. For all we know, if denied the opportunity to jump into the river, someone may opt to jump off a building, and might hit some poor fool walking on the sidewalk below.

On a side note, this shutdown could be scheduled much better, by pushing it back into November when use of the walk drops naturally.

acidfast7

The best suicide prevention devices are signs, phones and actual people. Not a fence, that's a cheap/lazy solution.

FBinNY 

I think my revised version is more to the point.

Darth Lefty 

But you understand why people pick bridges rather than step in front of a bus, right? It's because they don't want to make a scene. They want something certain but not messy. When they think it through any other way it's got problems. Their loved ones find their remains and have to clean it up, or they land on the sidewalk in front of a 3yo, or the pills don't work and leave them brain damaged, or so on. And they're full of doubt, and thoughts like that discourage it. All it takes is a moment of second thoughts to save their life. And maybe one less bridge to jump from

groovestew

Suicide-prevention fences were installed last year on a high bridge in my city. Apparently, the fences have successfully reduced the number of suicide attempts on the bridge: Suicide attempts on High Level Bridge down since barriers installed, city says - Edmonton - CBC News, but, the implementation ticked off cyclists and pedestrians alike: Suicide barriers may restrict High Level Bridge paths to one-way traffic - Edmonton - CBC News.

ptempel

Agreed on both points. I'm guessing that they selected now to try to avoid some of the bad winter months. However, I don't see any visible construction going on the south sidewalk so far. I hope they git' on it try to stay on schedule...

ptempel

So far the plan seems to be to leave the sidewalk as-is. I hope it doesn't radically change but we may never know. Well, not until after the bigger north sidewalk project is completed.

ptempel

I think the NY/NJ Port Authority police are doing that for the most part. I see the signs and almost always see two PA cops walking the sidewalk or in or near the little booth. I have to wonder if they are tired of trying to deal with the suicide prevention part of their job? Or maybe the fence is a legal and/or knee jerk reaction to the problem?

ptempel

Still riding on the north sidewalk without any issues. Looks like they actually cleaned it up before opening it. However, I don't see any changes on the south side so far. I hope they stay with their three month schedule. But I'm not holding my breath...

wilfried

It would cost more money, but they could build a barrier with bars, rather than chain link. It would be less ugly, and institutional, and you could still get a clear view if you stood close, and take a decent picture. It would even be harder to climb. Chain link makes you feel like you're in a pen.

rhm

Well, I'm not a mental health professional, and have never been suicidal, so what do I know.

But the standard cliche is that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

The point is that a lot of people commit suicide almost on a whim, and don't put a great deal of thought into it. The opportunity presents itself at the wrong moment and they go for it. Similarly: people who have a gun in the house are much more likely to commit suicide than those who do not. If they were really serious, they could figure it out; but in many cases they aren't that serious about it.

So I believe you are right some of the time, and wrong some of the time. The fence will probably not help the people in the former category, but it will presumably save some of those in the latter.

ptempel

Forgot to mention that the south sidewalk is now open. It opened up a few weeks ago. Yeeay. The fence is not too bad. Yeah, not as visually nice as without it. But at least it didn't impede the sidewalk space at all. The humorous part is that there is still no fence on the Manhattan side leading up to the bridge. So they almost have it all covered...