3103 replies to this topic

[Cats4Hire]

While I think suicide prevention is important I think putting money into services to make sure it doesn't get to the point of them jumping is a better use of resources than putting up barriers on places used. If you put up barriers on the trestle people will just find somewhere else to jump or another method of suicide and it will be an endless cycle of finding every method they could use to stop it. Meanwhile giving them counseling and other support can help reintegrate them into society and become tax payers putting money back into the system. 

[Victoria Watcher]

While I think suicide prevention is important I think putting money into services to make sure it doesn't get to the point of them jumping is a better use of resources than putting up barriers on places used. If you put up barriers on the trestle people will just find somewhere else to jump or another method of suicide and it will be an endless cycle of finding every method they could use to stop it. Meanwhile giving them counseling and other support can help reintegrate them into society and become tax payers putting money back into the system. 

 

 

Over time, the Prince Edward Viaduct became a magnet for suicide, falling bodies posing risk to the traffic underneath. With nearly 500 suicides by 2003, the viaduct ranked as the most fatal standing structure in Canada and the second most in North America, after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.^[6][7] At its peak in 1997, the suicide rate averaged one person every 22 days.

 

____________________

 

A 2010 study found that though the ($5.5 million) barrier prevented suicide attempts from the viaduct, overall rates of suicide by jumping for the City of Toronto have not changed since its construction.

 

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During construction of the barrier in 2002, a man opted to jump off from the Leaside Bridge and others have opted to jump in front of subway trains instead.

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia..._Edward_Viaduct

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 January 2021 - 07:20 AM.

[Nparker]

While I think suicide prevention is important I think putting money into services to make sure it doesn't get to the point of them jumping is a better use of resources...

Mental health services in Canada are abysmal.

[Victoria Watcher]

Mental health services in Canada are abysmal.

 

that's very easy to say.   but what do you have to back it up?

 

in the case of this boy's death, the family said they waited 2 years for a mental health professional.  but if i'm willing to spend $75 i can see one this morning.

 

one of the extreme difficulties with mental health spending is that's it's very very hard to measure its effectiveness and impossible to determine cost-effectiveness.   and there is a wild divergence in what different individuals need.  and an even wider disparity of opinions about how effective any treatment or counselling is.

 

some of the reporting in this case has been very simplistic.  "he suffered from depression brught on by school bullying".  really, that ls it eh?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 January 2021 - 07:34 AM.

[Nparker]

that's very easy to say.   but what do you have to back it up?

Personal experience.

[Jackerbie]

^ IIRC, walking on the trestle is technically considered trespassing. If any barrier are going up, it will be a fence to keep people off of it entirely, not safety rails.

Apparently a work crew is up there installing new fencing this week. Public access blocked.

[GaryOak]

I wonder if it's a railing or a gate

[Jackerbie]

I wonder if it's a railing or a gate

Gate

[GaryOak]

Well there goes all the fun

[Mike K.]

Thanks Jackerbie. As much as we might not like it, that gate is long overdue. I too have an acquaintance who took his life from that trestle. Who knows if it would have been prevented in some way. but you always wonder.

[On the Level]

Won't they just climb the gate?

[Victoria Watcher]

Over time, the Prince Edward Viaduct became a magnet for suicide, falling bodies posing risk to the traffic underneath. With nearly 500 suicides by 2003, the viaduct ranked as the most fatal standing structure in Canada and the second most in North America, after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. At its peak in 1997, the suicide rate averaged one person every 22 days. In 1957, a child also climbed onto the railing and fell accidentally while walking along it.

 

___________________

 

A 2010 study found that though the barrier prevented suicide attempts from the viaduct, overall rates of suicide by jumping for the City of Toronto have not changed since its construction. However, a 2017 study with the same lead author found that "over the long term, suicide-by-jumping declined in Toronto after the barrier with no associated increase in suicide by other means". During construction of the barrier in 2002, a man opted to jump off from the Leaside Bridge and others have opted to jump in front of subway trains instead.

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia..._Edward_Viaduct

 

 

 

 

Barenaked Ladies (lyrics):

 

Near where I live there's a viaduct
Where people jump when they're out of luck
Raining down on the cars and trucks below
They've put a net there to catch their fall
Like that'll stop anyone at all
What they don't know is when nature calls, you go
 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 February 2021 - 11:28 AM.

[Nparker]

It's not possible to "bubble-wrap" the entire world to prevent suicide. If someone is determined to end their suffering, they will find a way. 

[Victoria Watcher]

you know it is a bit of a unique situation.  since it is not even accessible to public transit there is almost no chance that younger kids (under 16 or 17) will ever accumulate there unsupervised.  if it was located near a population centre or transit there is no way it would not have a gate or fence or railings.  even though it is private property.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 February 2021 - 11:34 AM.

[Mike K.]

There's another trestle just a few steps beyond the Niagara Trestle, btw. I wonder if they'll gate both of them. Most people who go up to the Niagara have no idea there's another one further north.

[Victoria Watcher]

There's another trestle just a few steps beyond the Niagara Trestle, btw. I wonder if they'll gate both of them. Most people who go up to the Niagara have no idea there's another one further north.

 

true.

[splashflash]

There's another trestle just a few steps beyond the Niagara Trestle, btw. I wonder if they'll gate both of them. Most people who go up to the Niagara have no idea there's another one further north.

The Arbutus Creek trestle.

[On the Level]

Sooo...I thought I thought they were going to pave the rail so granny can drive it if there is a blockage on the malihat. That looks like a fun stretch to drive.

[splashflash]

Sooo...I thought I thought they were going to pave the rail so granny can drive it if there is a blockage on the malihat. That looks like a fun stretch to drive.

Just make it a bike trail. Like the Kinsol Trestle:

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Edited by splashflash, 13 February 2021 - 08:33 PM.

[On the Level]

Yes...that's going to solve the lack of development in the CRD, pushing people into Mill Bay etc.  Biking into work in November across a wooden decked trestle.