Suicidologist Urges Faster Action On George Washington Bridge Safety Barriers

On the front of its New York section, the New York Times (8/21, MB1, Glaser, Subscription Publication) reported in a nearly 2,700-word story that suicidologist Madelyn Gould, PhD, MPH, a professor of epidemiology in Columbia University’s psychiatry department, is urging New York “authorities to put barriers on bridges and other buildings, something that copious amounts of research show is effective” in preventing suicides.

Even though “the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge, has put dozens of signs and several telephones on it to link desperate callers to trained crisis counselors,” some “93 people have died at the bridge” over the past seven years. Now, the Port Authority plans “to erect a safety barrier on the bridge, a project that will not be completed before 2024.”

Dr. Gould would like that barrier completed much sooner, commenting, “From the perspective of saving people’s lives, why not move up that time frame?”

Related Links:

— “A Suicidologist’s New Challenge: The George Washington Bridge,” GABRIELLE GLASER, New York Times, August 19, 2016.

Posted in In The News.