Washington, D.C
Advocates call for suicide prevention barriers at Taft Bridge
Research present that limitations, like fences or nets, assist forestall suicides. Photograph: AFP PHOTO/Brendan Smialowski by way of Getty Photographs
After a number of latest deaths, D.C. is designing an anti-suicide barrier for the William Howard Taft Bridge that connects Woodley Park and Kalorama. However whereas neighborhood help for the mission is rising, funding has but to solidify.
Why it issues: Quite a few research show that bodily limitations — reminiscent of fences or nets — are efficient in stopping suicides. A 2021 article by Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that suicide deaths at D.C.’s Ellington Bridge declined by 90% after a fence was constructed in 1986.
- Regardless of advocacy over the a long time, a fence has but to be put in on the Taft Bridge. There have been not less than 26 suicide deaths from a bridge in D.C. between January 2010 and June 2022, 15 of which occurred on the Taft and Ellington bridges, based on D.C. knowledge cited by a neighborhood fee.
State of play: The D.C. Division of Transportation tells Axios that since Taft Bridge is historic, any adjustments require coordination with federal and regional companions. The D.C. Division of Behavioral Well being can be concerned within the barrier mission.
DDOT director Everett Lott says that the division is “allocating funding to help this mission,” and spokesperson German Vigil says {that a} formal request to switch funds to the mission might be submitted to the D.C. Council inside 30 days.
- D.C. Council chair Phil Mendelson “doesn’t plan to oppose” the mission, his spokesperson Lindsey Walton tells Axios.
What they’re saying: Chelsea Van Thof, a Woodley Park resident, has been advocating for an anti-suicide barrier on the Taft Bridge since her longtime associate Peter Tripp, a veterinarian at District Veterinarian Hospital, died by suicide there final April.
- “Obstacles are proven to chop via [the] impulse [to jump],” she says, and will have stopped Tripp, who she believes acted impulsively.
- “The naysayers are all about aesthetics over human lives, however [barriers don’t] actually break aesthetics if that’s what persons are fearful about,” she tells Axios.
When you or somebody you recognize is experiencing suicidal ideas or a disaster, please attain out instantly to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or dial 988.