HIGHLAND – There was no discussion by the New York State Bridge Authority Board on Thursday concerning the possibility of installing climb deterrent fencing as a means of preventing suicides by jumping.
Five members of the public did, however, speak about the issue.
Among them was Madelaine Gould, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, who said those fences are the best form of suicide prevention on bridges.
“The research has definitively shown that the most effective way to prevent suicides on bridges is by installing physical barriers., Signs, phones and third-party interventions are not nearly as effective. They are somewhat effective, but mainly as complimentary interventions when physical barriers have been installed,” she told authority board members.
Psychiatrist Dr. Paul Nestadt said suicides have reached the highest rate since World War II, and he too, supported physical deterrents to prevent impulse jumping.
Dr. John Draper, president of Behavior Health Link, said crisis telephones on bridges do not work as a means of prevention.
