5/30/2023 0 Comments Man jumps off newport bridge 2021However, with President Biden’s recent $2 trillion infrastructure plan, the passage of a bill entitled “Bridging the Gaps for Safety” in the RI Assembly, which calls for bridge barriers on the Sakonnet River, Mount Hope, Newport Pell, and Jamestown Verrazzano bridges, could become a reality. No doubt, bridge netting or barriers have been discussed for decades. What is more, 70 percent of those who attempt suicide are not receiving mental healthcare at the time. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 90 percent of those who completed suicide had a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of death. It’s time we provided a “lockbox” for our bridges, especially if that buys someone more time to live, be helped and treated for mental illness. While prevention coalitions across the state have publicized the need for lock boxes for medicines in homes, and under Rhode Island law, licensed firearms dealers are required to sell handguns with trigger locks, our bridges have nothing more than a warning sign and Suicide Hotline phone number. Similarly, if someone spends time at home, and is distraught enough, an unlocked firearms or medicine cabinet becomes an easy temptation. Around here, bridges dominate our landscape. However, it’s the convenience or accessibility factor that is paramount. Certainly, they know firearms have a high rate of lethality. They operate under the notion that pills won’t work, but jumping will. They prefer to stay put, and yet they may consider jumping off the bridge, if distraught enough.Įxperts say that jumping from bridges-like guns-is reserved for those who are determined to die. The paradox is that people around here don’t enjoy crossing bridges. They are convenient and link our islands together. It may seem obvious to anyone who lives in Newport County as to why a person would contemplate jumping off a bridge. When it comes to suicide in the U.S., the most common means is by firearms, which accounts for about 55 percent of the suicide deaths, followed by suffocation, poisoning, and jumping. Three people lost their lives jumping off Newport County bridges and 27 lost their lives in the past nine years. Bridge jumping is a relatively rare occurrence, but not in Newport County and not in the past couple of months.
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