Checksum: 12877
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Path: utzoo!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader)
Date: Fri, 27-Jan-89 18:08:49 EST
Message-ID: <1989Jan27.180849.18666@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Re: Suicides
References: <8901262028.AA03552@queen.csri.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
Distribution: tor
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto


> So if you really want the whole f...... world to know be more
> creative, for example hang yourself from the CN-Tower ...
> ... jump from First Canadian Place at rush hour

While possible, these are rather nontrivial methods.  You'd need an
acetylene torch or the like to get through those horrible* anti-suicide
bars at the CN Tower.  And I bet the indoor levels have something less
breakable than ordinary glass.  As for First Canadian Place, it has no
observation deck at all, and never has had; so you either break in (so to
speak) to the roof, or first get into somebody's office somehow and then
get through the window there.

The subway method is quite trivial and I suspect this has a lot to do
with its, um, popularity.  The only method of really stopping subway
suicides would seem to be the installation of a wall along the platform
edge; the trains would then have to stop exactly at marked positions,
and doors in the walls would open to match the train doors (i.e., like an
elevator).  There is actually one subway system where this was done
(in Lille, France) -- but the reason they felt the need is that their
trains are automatic, with no drivers.  Of course, accidents are prevented
as well as suicides.

*Horrible in the sense that because there's no way to stand close to
 the bars you lose much of the feeling of being outdoors, and can't even
 take a decent picture through them.  The Eiffel Tower does it much
 better, with a rectangular grid of wire like that used for chain link
 fences, so you can put your face or camera through the holes, and a
 parapet wall so you can't try to stand on the anti-suicide wires.

 A still better arrangement is at NYC's World Trade Center, where the
 outdoor observation walkway is quite open, but set above the roof
 itself and some way back from the edge.  In between the walkway base
 and the roof edge, at a position where it doesn't obstruct your view,
 is an electric fence.  Presumably potential jumpers aren't interested in
 breaking their ankles jumping to the roof and then trying to electrocute
 themselves.  But this method isn't practical on a narrow tower like the
 CN or Eiffel Tower, because the viewing area shrinks too much.

Mark Brader				"Every new technology carries with it
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto			 an opportunity to invent a new crime"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- Laurence A. Urgenson