Subscriber Comments for
Cold Spring Bridge Barrier

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 260798	2012-03-01 09:15 AM
So where's the next best place to take the dive?
COMMENT 260807	2012-03-01 09:28 AM
While the above comment made by 260798 may be a tad insensitive, a good point is made. If someone wants to end their life, this barrier will not stop that. They'll simply find another location. :/
COMMENT 260808	2012-03-01 09:29 AM
Done is done and I suppose it's for the better. I just wish the "barrier" had a more aesthetic union with the original design of the bridge rather than cage like cyclone fencing.
COMMENT 260814P	2012-03-01 09:38 AM
That may be true, 807, but there's also consideration to be given to the responders and this barrier by deterring suicides, at least in this location, will make the difficult and sometimes dangerous search for a possible survivor less or, hopefully, not needed at all.
COMMENT 260815	2012-03-01 09:38 AM
How long till someone tags it?
COMMENT 260819	2012-03-01 09:46 AM
Looks easy to climb up with the supports on the inside of the wire fencing. If someone wants to jump this will not stop them.
COMMENT 260820P	2012-03-01 09:47 AM
260807: I wonder if that is entirely true. Could the bridge have some power beyond convenience? I've spent time both above and below the bridge photographing it and there is a certain mysterious aura about the place. Perhaps it was just the knowledge that so many people had plunged to their death there but there was a palpable drama about the place. Maybe it does induct victims where another place might not? Just pondering...
COMMENT 260823	2012-03-01 09:48 AM
@798 - Next spot may be the San Roque Bridge. It has only a modest vertical chain link fence which would be very easy to scale.
ROGER DODGER	2012-03-01 10:02 AM
Tagging it will make it look total Santa Barbarian.
COMMENT 260828P	2012-03-01 10:06 AM
#815, you mean it is not yet?
COMMENT 260829	2012-03-01 10:06 AM
823 How very thoughtful of you to inform those intent on self destruction that there is an alternative to Cold Springs. OMG does anyone think before they start banging on those keys!!!!!
COMMENT 260830	2012-03-01 10:06 AM
San Roque isn't high enough. With my luck I'd survive it, with poison oak.
COMMENT 260833	2012-03-01 10:30 AM
Now people will jump from public places like the court house or tops of parking garages, this has been done before, I hope that we do not see an increase in frequency because people would be WAY MORE traumatized by that than by someone jumping from a bridge where we can't see the aftermath.
COMMENT 260858	2012-03-01 11:45 AM
Terrific news! Lives will definitely be saved by this barrier, at at cost much lower than the $45 million/year spent on the troubled SB County Mental Health Services. Anyone in distress having suicidal thoughts should call: 1-800-273-8255 (national suicide hotline)... your storm of troubles will definitely pass! And the evidence is overwhelming that people who contemplate jumping off bridges do *not* simply go to another place or use another suicide method. Posting anything else is cruel.
COMMENT 260863	2012-03-01 12:02 PM
It's sad people don't have anything better to do than sit at their computers and complain about something that has already been DONE. It's beautiful out there today, get out and enjoy it .. jeeze.
COMMENT 260829	2012-03-01 12:40 PM
Reading the macabre comments,just short of selling tickets and to the point of suggesting alterate take off locations,one would think jumping a regular Santa Barbara activity.
COMMENT 260878	2012-03-01 12:48 PM
It looks better than I thought it would. I think most people know that if someone is committed to ending their life, they will eventually be successful. It's a hard, sad fact. I don't know what the right answer is - this seems to be the best thing that the powers that be could come up with and it's not without merit. I know too many people who have lost their family members to that bridge...I bet they wish that barrier had been in place sooner.
COMMENT 260891	2012-03-01 01:16 PM
$800k for a fence to prevent citizens from carrying out their wishes, whilst degrading a very beautiful panoramic view of the lush valley. What a shame.
COMMENT 260815	2012-03-01 01:45 PM
This barrier doesn't end or even significantly reduce the overall number of suicides. But it will end or significantly reduce the overall number of suicides THERE. And that's a good thing. BTW...Ever wonder why there isn't a readily available suicide pill that's 100% effective? Because too many people would take it in the heat of the moment. This bridge was in a way like a suicide pill.
COMMENT 260903	2012-03-01 01:45 PM
The actual cost of the barrier was $4 million, not $800K. Yet another thing Caltrans is lying about. The other big lie Caltrans is telling is that this stupid fence will save lives. A UCSB professor (Garrett Glasgow) showed that there is no evidence that these kinds of barriers save lives. Unlike the pro-barrier activists that Caltrans hired to push this project (like the Glendon Association), Glasgow has actually published his work on this topic in a peer-reviewed journal. I can't post a link, but a Google search will take you to the article and some related documents.
COMMENT 260904	2012-03-01 01:49 PM
Why wasn't this job given to a local construction company instead of some out of town crew.
COMMENT 260798	2012-03-01 01:59 PM
858- generally, when you use terms like overwhelming evidence, it is proper to cite a source.
COMMENT 260907	2012-03-01 02:04 PM
I feel like anytime there is a story about the barrier, the comments posted are exactly the same as the story before. People will continue to have their opinions about it, but the barrier is up now, so there's no point in debating it.
COMMENT 261027	2012-03-01 05:34 PM
I like how you can use the old railing to help you up over the new fence.
COMMENT 260858	2012-03-01 07:27 PM
Garrett Glasgow's published work does not say that barriers don't work... period. His work says that he failed in his attempt to settle the issue. But other researchers, more capable than Glasgow, have largely settled the matter. The cost of the barrier was driven way up by the $ that Marc Chytilo got in a legal settlement. He didn't donate that money to suicide prevention.
COMMENT 261072	2012-03-01 08:42 PM
Someone will climb over that rail in 2012
COMMENT 260903	2012-03-01 08:47 PM
260858 you successfully drained $4 million out of the taxpayers wallet -- why bother keeping up the insulting and misleading PR campaign?
FLICKA	2012-03-02 06:59 AM
I think it will save lives; it will certainly save the firefighters or EMTs or whoever has to recover bodies from down below the horrible experience of making their way through the trees and brush to search for the jumper. As for the view? Once you start up San Marcos beautiful views are along the whole route.
COMMENT 261134	2012-03-02 07:50 AM
How many firefighters or EMTs have needed to be saved under the bridge? As far as I know, the answer is zero. The last suicide attempt in this area was when a lady drove her car off at Windy Gap. No barrier there. Much harder rescue/recovery down the side of a cliff, but I don't believe any rescue folks were injured and they had to recover the car.
COMMENT 261144	2012-03-02 08:10 AM
I would appreciate if 260868 would be kind enough to cite their source for the claim that $45 million is spent on the "troubled mental health" programs in the County. You sound like Rush stating as fact that Obama is responsible for $6 gas —which of course is a blatant lie. Please tell us all where your facts come from.
COMMENT 261152	2012-03-02 08:16 AM
Post 260858 is a perfect example of the "say anything to sell the project" mentality of Caltrans and their minions. Several years ago they were telling us not to listen to Glasgow because he hadn't published in the peer-reviewed literature. Now that he has, they simply lie about what he said.
COMMENT 261531	2012-03-03 02:23 PM
Cal Trans didn't need to go to all the expense of the barriers on the bridge - they could have just put up a few photos of the people that jumped - hung up in the trees down below and still alive. That would have taken care of the problem.
COMMENT 260858	2012-03-03 02:28 PM
And another thread demonstrates the wacky turn of american political dialogue. Good ideas like the barrier attract all sorts of unpleasant comments.

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