I apologize ahead of time for writing about such a depressing topic. But it too is a part of living in Coronado and I always feel so sad for the victims and their family and friends…
Coronado Bridge
Coronado Bridge is such a beautiful bridge. I love driving across and looking out over the bay. Either direction brings a beautiful vista – Coronado itself, Point Loma and the ocean to the west and Cowles Mountain and other ranges to the east.
But, the Coronado Bridge has a dark side. It is tragically a popular spot for suicide. In fact, it has the third highest number of suicides of any bridge in the country.
As of the beginning of December 2009, 236 people had died in suicidal falls from this two-mile-long stretch.
But you won’t hear about most of them in the news. You’ll hear about them in the grocery store line, on Twitter, from friends and neighbors. Or sometimes you will horrifyingly witness them yourself.
Such was the case last year as my husband and I were driving east on the bridge heading out of town for the week.
And such was the case yesterday when yet another desperate person plunged to their death after leaping over the side of the bridge.
Last year I frantically texted and twittered friends and acquaintances to find out if the person had by any miracle survived. I had a friend who had seen the young woman stop her car mid-span and thought it odd because there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the car. She too was horrified to learn that the woman had jumped.
After a day and a half I learned from someone who talked to inside sources who wished to remain anonymous that the woman had died. I also learned that if a person jumps into the water and survives, the case comes under the jurisdiction of the Coronado or San Diego Police department depending on who responds and which side of the bridge the person is taken off. These cases appear in the news.
However, if a person jumps into the San Diego Bay and dies, the case comes under the jurisdiction of the San Diego Harbor Police. The Harbor Police have a strict non-disclosure rule about suicides and so these cases never appear in the news.
Kevin Caruso of Suicide.org says that in his interactions with people who have survived a jump from a bridge, their experiences are eerily similar.
Almost without exception — immediately after they jumped, they wanted to survive.
He goes on to say that over 90 percent of the people who die by suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death.
And because depression is the most common mental illness, untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide, and depression and other mental illnesses are highly treatable.
Some of the other “suicide bridges” around the country have erected barriers and others have approved future barriers. Back in the 1980’s when the suicide toll was the highest; most everyone backed a plan for a barrier on the Coronado Bridge. Everyone that is but Caltrans.
Do you think a barrier should be put up on the Coronado Bridge?
Anyone who wants a barrier can get out their wallets and pay for it themselves. Suicide rates nationally almost never change. A barrier may make them choose another spot or method, but it won’t save any lives. The 163 overpass is a great example of one such foolish venture.
Installing a barrier would stop suicide jumpers and needs to be installed.
I lost my son last year from a fatal jump from the Coronado Bridge.
No family should have to experience that pain.
Mary I am so very sorry for your loss and the pain and suffering your son’s death has caused you, your family and friends. I hope that you are finding some healing and that you will continue to feel stronger every day.
I think they should install a barrier. SF Golden Gate bridge needs one too.
“Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish…”Ps.92:13 ppl bounce church2church like bballs. GET PLANTED! #localchurch
“Almost without exception — immediately after they jumped, they wanted to survive.”
That’s because many people who commit suicide are uncertain and conflicted.
But not everyone is — there IS such a thing as rational suicide. I’m in psychology, and the fact that most mental health professionals refuse to recognize rational suicide is a BIG problem.
The fact is, human love in this age has become disgustingly pathological — and attitudes toward death are even more pathological. We would much rather see someone we “love” continue to suffer for us (SO THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO BE SAD) than to let them go (because then we’d be SAD. boohoo for us). To me, that is the epitome of selfishness. And on top of that, it’s inhumane.
If you install the damn barrier, people who are committing rational suicides will undoubtedly find some other (less instant, less effective, possibly more painful) way to do it.
One more thing:
What this “desire to survive” actually IS needs some further investigation. People have an innate instinct to live (obviously). And even when a person is in a situation where there is no way whatsoever to justify continuing to live, THE INSTINCT PERSISTS — because it’s an instinct. So even if cognitively the person knows that suicide is the ONLY rational option, when they are in that moment, they will still (instinctively) have second thoughts.
And you have to ask yourself: how do we know that this experience that survivors have ISN’T some kind of distinct suicide survivor syndrome that hasn’t yet been identified? (It sounds JUST like the type of feelings a person experiences after ANY brush with death, suicidal or not.)
But your propaganda doesn’t take any of this into consideration. Which is just as well, I guess, as propaganda doesn’t try to appeal to reason, it only tries to appeal to emotion.
let them jump lowers population survival of the fittest
This was my friend who jumped, the other day as you mentioned.
I think a barrier should be installed, and tax payer dollars should be used. (definitely OnTheRockSince1960′s money, you cheap bastard. )
One other thing is I would like to see the bridge suicide non-disclosure thing with the San Diego harbor police thing eliminated some how, because it is clearly a way for the San Diego Harbor police to minimized what actually happens, without having to give statements to the media or any explanation to anyone the San Diego Harbor Police is keeping crime down to a minimum, and people arent able to be aware of what is really going on.
I feel that the public should know that depression and suicide are affecting lots of people
No one should ever be instructed as to how they should live their life, or how long they should live, nor should they be instructed as to how they should pass.
People who want to commit suicide are typically conflicted, pain-bearing people. I believe people should have the right to choose the way to live and the way they want to die, if that is indeed how they choose to end things.
Yes, suicide is tragic. But it’s mostly only tragic for the people the troubled souls leave behind.
Suicide only really hurts the “victim’s” loved ones. I placed victim in parenthesis because truly, people who jump to their death, or swallow pills or do any other act to INTENTIONALLY end their life, they are not victims. Most suicides are carefully planned. Sure, people who have survived the fall, or the overdose, or whatever fate the person decided to bestow upon themselves end up deciding that in the end they didn’t want to really die… but they were given another chance, and that really just means that they have unfinished business here on earth that they have to accomplish before they go. But who is anyone to tell someone they can not end their lives in the manner they believe is prudent?
I’m in no way, shape, or form a depressive person, nor am I suicidal. I do not believe that my life could ever end up in a condition that I would see fit to end by my own actions intentionally. However, I understand angst, sorrow, and pain beyond comprehension, and I also understand many parts of the human condition, and the rights we should possess as people, including the right to live, and by your own decision, die, by your own standards.
It is never any one else’s right to tell someone how they should live or die. Never. You are not that important. Just remember that. You might hurt and miss that person, but ultimately, it is that person who has to live with their tormented soul, and they should have every right to decide whether or not they should have to live with it. I’ve lost friends to suicide, and I’ve always wondered if I could have said/done something differently to help or avoid the situation. In the end? The answer is always the same. No, I could not have, because I never walked a single minute in their shoes… in their mind. They lived every second of their life in those shoes… in that mind. I love my shoes and my mind, and that is my decision, and mine alone. And if I changed my mind and didn’t anymore, it should never be my responsibility to live for you to be happy in knowing that I’m still here, suffering and in misery, so you can be comfortable with my presence on this earth.
Food for thought.
I do not believe barriers save lives.
I do believe they cost money that we don’t have right now.
And I also don’t think setting up a net or other barrier is going to do anything except get them in more trouble when they try, which will add even more pain/grief to their already troubled life, leading them to attempt again elsewhere.
People live troubled lives; between the unemployment, family issues, the drug war, and other problems, there isn’t really any place to turn these days that actually resolves a lot of the problems people have. We can’t just rely on drugging people with antidepressants to make them feel better any more.
I personally don’t think that it would do any good. If a person wants to do away with them self they will find a way to make it work for them this would just be a large experience for the state and take the beauty from a work of art.