Outcry on bridge deaths
RAISING the Tasman Bridge barriers is a matter of “genuine urgency” to prevent suicides, a coroner says, as pressure mounts from Hobart’s community with petitions garnering thousands of signatures.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart’s recommendation from three years ago to raise the barriers from their current height of 1.59m has not been implemented despite her warning that more deaths would occur there.
Coroner McTaggart noted in a recent ruling that several of her 2016 recommendations had been implemented, including installation of six Lifeline phones with signage and cameras accessible by police covering 99 per cent of the bridge’s pedestrian paths.
But she said until physical barriers were made higher, “more people will end their lives from the Tasman Bridge”.
“Of fundamental concern is the issue of the physical barriers to mitigate suicide from the bridge,” she said. “All other improvements are secondary to that principal issue. At its most
basi basic, only the erection of appropriate physical barriers can prevent suicide by persons jumping from the rails of the Tasman Bridge … the finalisation of this project is a matter of genuine urgency.”
Two change.org petitions calling on the government to raise the barriers have gathered more than 17,000 signatures, with comments from numerous people who had lost loved ones at the bridge.
But the government was finding the project “even more complex to resolve than anticipated”, with construction challenges relating to wind loading, maintenance access and safety, Coroner McTaggart noted.
An engineering firm engaged by the government has suggested the outer railing be raised to 3m and slope inwards toward the pathway to make climbing difficult, with an expected cost of $8.3 million.
But bereaved families and friends are tired of the wait. One is Catherine Jones. She wrote in her petition to the government: “I used to look at this bridge every day and see nothing but beauty, but now all I see is pain. I’ve never hated a structure more than the Tasman Bridge. We have been given great options to prevent more lives being lost, helping to protect the vulnerable in our society. However, unfortunately the government is not willing to spend the money on fixing the problem, but when did money mean more than people’s lives?”
Fellow petition organiser Emily Anderson said raising the height of safety rails meant deaths would be reduced.
“By interrupting somebody’s suicidal thoughts or suicidal plan, we may be giving people a greater opportunity to think through their options and reduce the likelihood that they will follow through with their suicidal act,” she said in her petition to infrastructure minister Michael Ferguson.
A spokesperson said the Tasmanian government was unable to comment.
Lifeline Tasmania chief executive Debbie Evans said the reasons people took their own lives were often complex, and there was no single reason why a person attempted or died by suicide.