From the Chron:
The study, released on Monday by Marin County Coroner Ken Holmes, whose office handles most deaths from the bridge, showed that over 85 percent of the people who jump are Bay Area residents. The average jumper was 41.7 years old; men outnumber women nearly 3 to 1; and whites account for 83 percent of the dead, Holmes found in his review of data from January 1996 to July 26 of this year.
On average, two people per month jump to their deaths from the bridge, Holmes said, but the number has recently increased to nearly three a month. In 2006, 34 suicides were recorded…The youngest was a 14-year-old girl and the oldest was an 84-year-old man. The report also noted that 76 percent of all jumps were witnessed by tourists or commuters.
Suicide is an impetuous act – or the act of an ill person lacking the capacity to make a sane decision. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Limiting access to the means of death has proven to dramatically reduce suicides.
98% of those stopped never attempt suicide again.
The rails at the Golden Gate Bridge are simply too low and access is too great. The rails of the bridge need to be raised.
Four people try to die there every week and one succeeds.
The true victims are the loved ones left behind many of which carry terrible emotional scars the rest of their lives…
San Franciscans and the people of the Bay Area can no longer hide their collective heads in the sand – we are now well aware of the horror taking place and as such have a moral obligation to do something to end the deaths at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Please help raise the rails – and end the tragic deaths