The Jumper Squad. "Each year, the New York City Police Department receives hundreds of 911 calls for so-called jumper jobs, or reports of people on bridges and rooftops threatening to jump. The department’s Emergency Service Unit responds to those calls. Roughly 300 officers in the unit are specially trained in suicide rescue, the delicate art of saving people from themselves; they know just what to say and, perhaps more important, what not to say."
posted by zarq
on Oct 9, 2012 -
39 comments
Umihotaru is an artificial island on the Tokyo Bay Aqualine that has had to reinvent itself as a
tourist trap to justify the continued maintenance of a little-used bridge-tunnel crossing.
posted by 256
on Oct 2, 2012 -
27 comments
Historic Bridges of the U.S. This is the most complete database of historic bridges I've seen. The front page is blog style that seems to have an emphasis on preservation, and which links to a database that is actively being updated & expanded. You can search by
state or by
county, and look at each bridge's individual
page, including a wealth of stats, and a high-res
photo, when available.
[more inside]
posted by Devils Rancher
on Aug 17, 2009 -
31 comments
Deliberately turning her camera from the wreckage, That Red Girl gives us a look at
what's going on in her now quarantined life mere blocks from the
recent Minneapolitan
bridge collapse.
"Several neighbors and I stood in our driveway late into the night debriefing the day. We now live in lockdown. Police must escort us around. We must meet any guests at the corner, they cannot approach the building alone. Residents are told to ask people they do not recognize to show their keys and prove themselves. We joke about seeing everyone’s “FOBs” to those we know well. The dogs are all leashed, tying themselves together as they try to play like normal. It’s frustrating to everyone that we can’t run around as normal. The word “quarantine” is tossed around. People are nervous. One of the residents hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning. She may be on vacation… no one knows. We see one of the neighbors being interviewed on the corner and a few young girls trying to flirt with the police to gain entrance to our complex. The dogs continued to wrestle and we continued to talk."
posted by taursir
on Aug 3, 2007 -
39 comments
Lethal Beauty is a seven-part series by the San Francisco Chronicle about the Golden Gate Bridge and its history of suicides. The articles present both sides of the argument regarding a barrier which would stop such tragedies. The presentation includes graphic representations of
suicides by location,
a timeline and podcasts from
survivors &
relatives, among others.
posted by Masi
on Nov 11, 2005 -
13 comments
The Suicide Bridge. Sitting in the sun, waiting for her ride, Babcock recounts the story of one Thanksgiving. As she placed the turkey on the dinner table, she heard the sirens. Before she could stop him, her teenage son, Larry, ran outside to find the body. When he returned, he refused to eat.
"The guy's head was splattered all over the place," she says. "It was a younger fella that had jumped off the bridge. It shook us all up -- someone that young. He was only 20 or 21."The
All America Bridge in Akron, Ohio is built over a lower-class neighborhood; unfortunately, it's also a popular suicide spot. Often times bodies will land in people's yards, in business' parking-lots, and even through the roof of a building. A sad, disturbing article about people who have grown used to the sight of people dying on their property.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me
on Jul 24, 2005 -
29 comments
Leonardo's Bridge became a reality, with the construction of the 100 meter bridge spanning the E-18 in the township of Ås, east of Oslo. The design of the bridge makes modern bridges seem old in comparison. It seems that
many of DaVinci's 500 year old ideas are coming to fruition.
posted by dancu
on Nov 1, 2001 -
10 comments
