People whose lives have been impacted by suicide joined officials with the City of Edmonton Monday to talk to reporters about the controversial safety barriers recently installed on the High Level Bridge.
“It’s a good day,” Dan Klemke, whose wife Marilyn died after jumping off the bridge in 2013, said. “It’s a weird feeling actually. I don’t come down to the bridge very often.”
Klemke said his wife’s suicide – which he believes was the result of an adverse reaction to medication – forced him to rely on family and faith to get through the pain. He said a few month later, he spoke to former mayor Stephen Mandel and asked for some type of action to be taken about people jumping off the bridge.
“This bridge has been a hot spot for suicides for decades,” Klemke said. “Frankly, (it’s) something that I knew about for the last 40 years.”
While it is hoped the new suicide barriers will reduce the number of people who take their lives, their installation has not been without complaints.
With up to 4,000 pedestrians and cyclists crossing the bridge daily, there have been complaints that the barriers have made the High Level difficult to navigate.
WATCH: Suicide barriers on High Level Bridge make span harder to navigate
- Buzz kill? Gen Z less interested in coffee than older Canadians, survey shows
- ‘She gets to be 10’: Ontario child’s heart donated to girl the same age
- Canada updating sperm donor screening criteria for men who have sex with men
- Bird flu risk to humans an ‘enormous concern,’ WHO says. Here’s what to know
The $3-million barriers were mounted inside the existing rail, which has left less space – especially on the east side – and caused both sides of the bridge to be narrower than the new shared-path standards.
The city said suicide is a leading cause of death in Edmonton and the barriers were installed as a preventative measure. The 102-year-old bridge’s dark history was the subject of a 2010 short film.
The city said building up the existing posts was too costly and the bridge is too old.
“We’re in the midst of a safety audit right now, so we’re looking at ways of how do you reduce tragedy by having a barrier in place while at the same time, mitigate those concerns for cyclists,” Kris Andreychuk, the City of Edmonton’s supervisor for community safety, said. “That report is expected shortly and there will be actions we can take.”
According to Andreychuk, the city looked at how other urban centres around the world have dealt with the issue and barriers have resulted in reduction of suicides by 50 to 85 per cent.
“They are a really important part of Edmonton’s suicide-prevention strategy,” the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Ione Challborn said. “We’re just hopeful that they’ll result in lives saved and that’s what research has shown us – that that’s what’s happened across the world.”
READ MORE: High Level Bridge sidewalk closing for safety rail installation
Klemke said other survivors of suicide at Monday’s event shared their stories with him, and he’s convinced the barriers will give despondent people a moment to pause before deciding to end their life.
“By all accounts it was an impulse,” Klemke said of a 15-year-old who jumped off the bridge and whose father was at the bridge Monday. “For the impulsive, with the previous barriers, it was a three-second climb and the gauge wire that’s actually on the barrier is an assist to climb it. ”
Watch below: The newly-installed suicide barriers at Edmonton’s High Level Bridge have some people saying it makes the span harder for pedestrians and cyclists to navigate. But an Edmonton man with a tragic connection to the bridge, spoke to Gord Steinke on Monday about why he thinks the new infrastructure could save lives.
“The goal of the barriers is really to cause pause and a moment for reconsideration and we found that’s the most effective strategy in terms of reducing death on bridges,” Andreychuk said.
“We hope that this ends what’s been a fairly dark chapter for our city,” he added.
The city plans to consult with bridge users in the weeks ahead, but don’t expect any major changes.
Widespread consultation on the design wasn’t conducted because the city said it didn’t want to draw attention to the bridge.
Andreychuk said the safety audit should be completed soon.
Comments