Kevin Hines regretted jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge the moment his hands released the rail and he plunged the equivalent of 25 stories into the Pacific Ocean, breaking his back.
Hines miraculously survived his suicide attempt at age 19 in September 2000 as he struggled with bipolar disorder, one of about 40 people who survived after jumping off the bridge.
Hines, his father, and a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge relentlessly advocated for a solution for two decades, meeting resistance from people who did not want to alter the iconic landmark with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.
On Wednesday, they finally got their wish when officials announced that crews have installed stainless-steel nets on both sides of the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) bridge.
“Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back, never shattered three vertebrae, and never been on this path I was on,” said Hines, now a suicide prevention advocate. “I’m so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important.”
Nearly 2,000 people have plunged to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.
City officials approved the project more than a decade ago, and in 2018 work began on the 20-foot-wide (6-meter-wide) stainless steel mesh nets. But the efforts to complete them were repeatedly delayed until now.
The nets — placed 20 feet (6 meters) down from the bridge’s deck — are not visible from cars crossing the bridge. But pedestrians standing by the rails can see them. They were built with marine-grade stainless steel that can withstand the harsh environment that includes salt water, fog and strong winds that often envelop the striking orange structure at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay.
We make fun of China for installing similar nets on their buildings. Maybe we can consider some time actually doing something about the cause of suicide rather than just stopping the action. Healthcare, especially mental healthcare, poverty, housing. But no, just nets.
Those nets are on factories though. That is QUITE different. Where in the USA are suicide nets built into the infastructure of businessess and work places to keep the workers from commiting suicide there? I agree they suck at providing the healthcare and stuff but to equate suicide nets on a bridge to suicide nets on places of employment is absolutely not taking into consideration the nuances of both situations.
Us workers don’t live on site like they do there. There were 800,000 workers living in dorms on site when those articles all came out. That doesn’t exist in the US. The suicide rate at the time there was lower than in every US State for comparison.
Ok, I feel dark for making this meme.
I for one, love it. Nice work. The subject is uncomfortable, but this is absolutely a valid criticism of the system and the outcome in this case.
The fact that you used a meme based on a pawn shop - an institution that tends to take advantage of people on hard times - makes this dark and pithy. The only thing more fitting would be a payday loan center, but thankfully that hasn’t made it to reality TV just yet.
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Holy shit, 6m down onto inflexible steel mesh. For reference, a 5 meter diving platform is significantly higher than a normal American high dive. That would really fucking hurt. But it would save your life.
Might be intentional. If it was closer/less of a drop, it might just become “another handrail” where the “oh shit I don’t want to do this” doesn’t happen until after you jump off the net. By making it such a big drop, you increase the chances of that realization happening first, and if the net causes an injury, that might also stop the person from making it to the edge of the net and going over.
Basically, by making it a big drop it’s become a bigger obstacle, which could increase effectiveness.
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why can’t they do both?
Ok this pretty much answers my question. I think you’re right. I was thinking. What’s stopping them from jumping off the net after the jump onto it.
But ive heard of people who survive attempted suicide by jumping almost all regret it while jumping off.
It’s enough to break/twist your ankles or fuck up your knees for life.
Well, there goes my vacation plans this year.
There is a pretty harrowing documentary about people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Apparently it happens so often that if you set up a camera, after long enough you will catch lots of people considering it and doing it.
I think it’s called “The Bridge”? It was on YouTube when I watched it years ago, dunno if it’s still there. Maybe someone else will find it. But heads up, it’s not exactly a fun watch.
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/s? Surely you don’t actually think people want to live in a net.
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You keep talking about money vs reward. How many lives would need to be saved to make it worth it to you? How much is a human life worth to you?
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Blowing $224M to prevent 12% of cases makes 0 sense.
You were the one that made the comment. So i don’t think it was the wrong question.
You ever watch A Christmas Carol and think “hm, that Scrooge guy has a point!”
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Better to decrease the surplus population
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I get your point. It makes sense.
I downvoted you for being a condescending piece of shit, not because I think you’re wrong. Just sayin’.
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“Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back…"
This logic doesn’t track for me. How would a new have led to police intervention and help? Or, am I now realizing they mean after the jump and landing in the net, then there would be police? But it’s phrased poorly. The net would stop the death, not police. What a crappy sentence. I truly can’t tell.
So, now you just need to jump from the net after it catches you? That does not seem like much of a barrier.
every barrier helps, most suicide attempts are impulse decisions. forcing people to jump 30 feet into a net before they can jump a lethal distance makes it that much harder to follow through.
100%.
Several people have jumped into them. Some have been rescued from there, but “a handful” had “jumped into the net and then jumped to their death,” Mulligan said.
He declined to say how many. It will take a year or two of data to fully understand the system’s effectiveness, he said.
In the decade beginning in 2011, bridge officials said, there were 335 confirmed suicides, or an average of 33.5 per year. In 2022, as the first nets were being strung, there were 22. Through October this year, as more nets have been added, there were 13.
“If we save 30 lives a year, and not 31, it’s worth it for those 30 people who we saved,” Mulligan said. “And that’s every year. To greatly reduce the number of people dying in the community is a worthy goal. And to achieve that is success.”
But is it saving anyone or are they jumping from somewhere else?
Probably a bit of both. “Successful” suicide and following through with ideation is partly about opportunity. This is why likelihood of suicide is higher in homes with firearms, especially handguns, that are easy to access. Making following through with a suicidal impulse or ideation mitigates the situation for long enough for a good portion of people to shake it and/or get help.
There are still those that will seek out another way but, by mitigating the risk at the Golden Gate, resources that have been needed there can be partially re-allocated to other spaces to catch those that are still slipping through. In a sense, it’s a bit like triage and whack-a-mole, where the population at the next target is likely smaller.
Not an impulse decision. It’s been what I’ve wanted for the past couple years. When I tried, my finger wouldn’t pull the trigger just like Dolores couldn’t do it at first in Westworld.
I think it’s more “successful suicide” is generally an impulse decision because that disallows our self-preservation time to kick in.
That said, are you ok? Need someone to talk to? Why have you desired to end your life?
I’m not a qualified mental health professional but would be willing to lend a virtual ear, if you need it, and see if I can help to find resources available to you. I’m not going to be terribly available today but please feel free to DM me.
Self preservation is an impulse.
Wow, some absolute lemon actually downvoted you.
Think of the first fall as a “proof of concept”. If after falling ~20 feet to a chain link fence, you still feel like dragging your injured self to the edge of the fence to finish the job, then it’s highly unlikely anything will stop you from killing yourself. The fence is kind of a “try before you buy” thing.
Pain is not death. False advertising.
This is one of those “clever” comments that are actually just retarded if you think about it.
Did you read the article? One guy who jumped said he regretted it immediately after falling. This gives people an opportunity to experience that same regret before they try doing it again.
I’m from Melbourne. We had a problem with people jumping from the West Gate bridge and we engineered safety barriers that reduced suicides to zero.
That’s right. Zero.
It even reduced the jump rate by 65% at our other bridges. All that, without looking cheap and ugly AF.
Did it actually reduce suicides though, or just redirect them to other means?
I too would regret suicide when asked especially because if I say ‘Im gonna do it again’. - I get to spend 3 more days on a psychiatric hold treated like an animal.
Are you trying to argue that most people who regret suicide attempts are lying about it to avoid treatment?
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Yes.
Have you ever been Baker Acted? Met anyone Baker Acted?
It’s one of the most dehumanizing things you can do to a person, and then they get a bill for $5,000 for treatment.
There are an absolute fuck ton of people who lie about suicidal ideation because they fear the consequences of being honest. So why do you think after being rescued, and forced into a hold - that they would then be honest?
There are an absolute fuck ton of people who lie about suicidal ideation because they fear the consequences of being honest.
Do you know what proportion of people who regret suicide attempts are lying about it?
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Oh, so you don’t know if it’s 5% or 50%?
Well, whatever the percentage may be, consider the remaining people who do regret it afterwards and aren’t lying about it.
A 20’ drop to a steel rope net wouldn’t be a soft landing. It’s unlikely anyone would be able to, or be interested in, crawling to edge to finish the job.
This is still going to hurt a lot of people that jump, probably still broken backs and the occasional death.
Oh so you injure the person and laden them with medical debt, America really is great >:)
They injure themselves.
Lol, what is up with this comment chain?
They injure themselves? What are you trying to say?
They injure themselves because they are the ones who choose to jump…
So why not just let them choose death?
News posts regarding suicides turns depressed lurkers into commenters.
Probably because the “services” that are “designed to help us” usually involve throwing us in a psych ward where you’re surrounded by people with serious mental illness to the point you can’t sleep a full night because some guy down the hall is screaming at the demons in his head.
So yeah that could be a reason.
The US government is going to do literally everything it can other than provide universal Healthcare until the country collapses.
Nets are cheaper than mental health care.
I’m pretty sure California is in the process of implementing its own state-funded healthcare system.
It’s the way to do it, just like with legalizing drugs.
Wait you’re telling me this isn’t what they meant by safety nets??
The physical, not social kind. “We’ll catch you when you fall… this is not a metaphor.”
For real. It would be interesting to see the average financial depth of the people who attempt suicide in the US.
Can’t they just jump off the net?
Unpopular opinion: This is a complete waste of taxpayer money that could’ve gone towards any number of issues that actually cause people to want to kill themselves.
Here’s a thought, you can do multiple things if you didn’t have people in the US fighting socialised health care. But until you do, it’s suicide nets for all.
Oh boy, I love following in the footsteps of the Chinese Communist Parties solutions.
Obviously every action they do is the correct action!
Yep yep!
Way to miss the point.
Way to miss the joke.
Yeah, missed the joke (if there actuallywas one), but my point stands.
Took a century near enough, didn’t it?
… sure hope the contractor doesn’t install razor-sharp steel net by mistake to spaghettify (french fry cut?) anything falling on it …
Are you 12?
No, but I’m sure I’ve seen Jerry do this to Tom when I was 12.
So your justification is a cartoon?
Depends what I would have to justify.
I can’t justify (ever) being 12, I was forced to exist without my consent.
depends on the size of the holes in the net and whether the person jumps pencil or belly flop
So you are saying they should skip the complicated nonsense & just install safety laser nets (like those in Resident Evil movie & a few others probably) …
It’s steel wire, this is gonna turn some people into french fries a la Cube
At such a small distance? Maybe some bruises at worst.
Reminds me of that Bojack Horseman poem.
"But this is it, the deed is done silence drowns the sound. Before I leaped I should’ve seen the view from halfway down.
I really should’ve thought about the view from halfway down. I wish I could’ve known about the view from halfway down—"
Great show.
The weak breeze whispers nothing
The water screams sublime
His feet shift, teeter-totter
Deep breath, stand back, it’s time
Toes untouch the overpass
Soon he’s water bound
Eyes locked shut but peek to see
The view from halfway down
A little wind, a summer sun
A river rich and regal
A flood of fond endorphins
Brings a calm that knows no equal
You’re flying now
You see things much more clear than from the ground
It’s all okay, it would be
Were you not now halfway down
Thrash to break from gravity
What now could slow the drop
All I’d give for toes to touch
The safety back at top
But this is it, the deed is done
Silence drowns the sound
Before I leaped I should’ve seen
The view from halfway down
I really should’ve thought about
The view from halfway down
I wish I could’ve known about
The view from halfway down
It’s a fucking amazing poem and had me in tears the first time I saw that episode.
People falling that 30 feet and being stopped in the act may help them see that jumping, or suicide in general is not the answer.
