I was reading “PostSecret” yesterday when I read this postcard: 
Jump off the Golden Gate Bridge?!? Not that I am thinking about doing it or would ever, but that’s not the way I would go. Maybe it has something to do with my fear of heights/bridges/ledges/pain, but there are definitely more humane ways to go. Why not just run the car in the garage for a bit with the doors closed? Does it have to be so dramatic; a grand finale to life?
Anyway, I searched around a bit and found out that the Golden Gate Bridge is the number one spot for suicide jumpers in the world. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this (Grace says I shouldn’t), but yet I am. In the world? Wow…that’s just crazy to think about to me. I read that people make special trips from different parts of the globe just to make this one jump to death. Insane.
According to Wikipedia, the Bridge averages about one jumper every two weeks, and has amassed a total of 1200 deaths as of 2005. This is just an absolutely staggering number to me. It is approximately 245 feet from the bridge deck to the water, and a person jumping is hitting the water four seconds after jumping at a velocity of about 76 mph. Most are killed on impact, some drown, and for a select few (26 to be exact), some live. The Bridge boasts a 98% kill rate, a virtual sure thing for most jumpers.
In my searching, however, I found a film called “The Bridge”. It’s a 2006 documentary that spent the entire 2004 calendar year filming people on the Golden Gate Bridge. Of the 24 suicide jumpers that year, 23 were caught on tape, as well as numerous thwarted attempts. Intrigued, Grace and I sat down and watched it last night on Hulu.
It’s just crazy watching actual people make this jump. They look like normal people, walking along the bridge, and then all of a sudden they’re up and over a rail…and then gone. People are walking past them normally, unsuspecting of what’s about to happen, unable to help until it’s too late. 
The film itself is pretty interesting. It shows many of the jumpers meeting their end, but it’s not gruesome or gory. Just sad. Your heart races as they climb over the barrier, and even though you know they’re going to jump, you secretly wish they don’t. There are interviews with family members, friends, and loved ones to give you background as to who the jumper was as a person. It is a little repetitive (the first five minutes is no different than the last five), but I sat transfixed; I was fascinated.
If you want to see it, just click here.
~Mikey D
PS: Postsecret sender, if, on the very off chance you read this blog, please, don't jump. Get the help you need.
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2 comments:
I haven't watched the documentary (yet), but I've heard about it.
I know San Fransisco has done a lot to deter jumpers: put up fences, keep a lot of cops on patrol, I think they were even debating putting a giant net under the bridge to catch jumpers.
There's only so much the city can do though.
Yeah, they voted 14-1 for putting up some steel wire netting thing to catch jumpers, but the cost is like 40-50 million dollars, so they the project is on hold for the time being until they can figure out costs.
I hope they do get it up though. Once every two weeks for a suicide? That's too high of a rate. If I visit the Golden Gate Bridge, I don't want a 1 in 14 chance of being there for a suicide. That's scary.
If you watch it, let me know what you think.
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