Raise the Rails - Save a Life
- par: Dayna Whitmer
- destinataire: Board of Directors for the Golden Gate Bridge District
This is our second petition to the Golden Gate Bridge District. We submitted our first one to be included in the Environmental Impact Report about the various designs of possible barriers. Please read the updated information!
Our family's youngest son, Matthew, disappeared in November 2007. It is believed that he ended his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. No body was ever recovered after a young man was seen jumping off the bridge on November 15th. Many people are not ever seen to jump (22%) and of those seen to jump, many bodies are never recovered (15%).
Matthew is still listed as missing, not dead and not a suicide.
On the first petition over two-thirds of our states were represented. People from the countries of Belize, Canada, Greece, France, Thailand, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Somalia, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Serbia and Montenegro, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Republic of Korea were represented on that petition.
All the comments that signers wrote are included in the petition, including:
~This is a matter of public safety and social responsibility.
~This is a matter of life, not looks.
~The easy access to death needs to be eliminated.
~It is essential to provide safe and secure public facilities in respect for people affected by any disability.
From the Executive Summary of the newly created Office of Suicide Prevention here in California, the department Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention is called:
Every Californian is Part of the Solution . This plan states one of its goals is to raise awareness that suicide is preventable and to create an environment that supports suicide prevention and help-seeking behaviors.
Reducing access to lethal means is an important component in their campaign because, and I quote from this summary:
Almost half of survivors of suicide attempts reported less than one hour passed between the decision to complete suicide and the actual attempt. Another 24% reported that time was less than 5 minutes.
Restricting access to lethal means can put time between the impulse to complete suicide and the act itself, allowing opportunities for the impulse to subside, or warning signs to be recognized.
We need the Golden Gate Bridge District to approve one of the 5 barrier options for the pedestrian walkway to give mentally ill people in crisis more than one last hour of life. They will make a decision this October!
Please sign this and pass it on!
As Board of Directors you have been aware of the high potential and actuality for suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge for 70 years. Now you are aware of so much more regarding mental illness and suicide prevention.
- You have been presented with documentation from the California Department of Suicide Prevention that shows reduction of lethal means prevents death.
- You have the facts that there is a time limitation of the impulse for suicide.
- You have the facts from multiple studies from the United States and around the world that provide proof that barriers on bridges stop suicides without increasing the numbers elsewhere.
Now is the time for action and the best opportunity to help stop mentally ill and desperate people from making an impulsive, irrational choice to take their lives in such an easy manner and effect hundreds of other lives in the wake.
You need to join the world that recognizes every life is important and is raising the railings and placing barriers on their bridges to save lives!
Please, Raise the Rails on the Golden Gate Bridge and Save Lives !
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