Golden Gate Bridge Epidemic Analysis

The San Francisco Bay area is, and has been experiencing an epidemic. The epidemic is the suicides the county experiences every year. According to the San Francisco Suicide prevention website, there are 100 deaths per year in the City of San Francisco. Of that number, only three percent are directly resulting from jumping of the bridge. Using money to make the Golden Gate Bridge would not only cause a decrease in tourism due to the drop in aesthetic value, but it would also use money that could be better used in the city. The addition of suicide proofing on the Golden Gate Bridge would ruin the classic look and aesthetic value of the bridge and take from the the revenue tourists bring in to see the bridge. The preventative measures that would be incorporated include nets, higher railings, or both. Many of the tourists that see the bridge would also see the nets that would span the bridge. The only beauty pictures of the bridge would be history. The nets would stand out like a sore thumb and draw away from the classic San …show more content…
$15.25 million would be used to add the measures to the bridge, when the money could be much better used for public programs that would assist in curbing the epidemic through the city rather than just at the bridge. According to the 2015 Annual Report from the San Francisco Suicide Prevention, the yearly cost of operation was approximately $1.136 million. That means the city could allocate the same amount of money to help the program run as it is for 14 additional years, or expand to meet the cities growing population and increasing suicide rate, which has increased from past years. The San Francisco Suicide Prevention Program was the direct cause of 75 prevented deaths from suicide last year. 75 deaths prevented across the city, or 3 deaths prevented on the bridge, which statistic sounds better for the 4th largest city in the