M42 - 6 hour closure for a potential jumper

[iwantagta]

When does the preservation of 1 life stop being worth the massive disruption?

I will sound heartless but its fking ridiculous. If some selfish prick thinks that jumping off a bridge into traffic (potentially ruining more lives/killing drivers) is an appropriate way to off themselves then fk them.

Fetch some netting. rig up. Taser. Bish bash bosh couple of hours max. If they jump whilst you are putting the netting out then so be it.

Cant be too difficult/expensive to get some netting rigs created ready to roll out for the next idiot.

Motorways are for traffic, they are not locations for investigations and negotiations.

We need to grow up - lives do have £ signs attached to them, we have a finite amount of it to spend and £1 billion PA (2011 DfT figure) is nonsense. Scrape them up and get it open.

[Exovolt]

The M42 is always either closed or has some restriction. I think the active traffic management control room pull them out of a hat.

[Spare tyre]

If he jumped would he of landed in the road and caused a pile up?

My other half and I actually came across a young lad aged just 17 hanging over the wrong side of a motorway bridge in the summer, poor bloody bugger was so confused, really upsetting to see

[Monty Zoomer]

Why didn't they just build a diversion?

[V8RX7]

I agree - close the road (to avoid a pile up)

Then put out a net / airbag etc

And pull / push / taser them off.

[The Moose]

Spare tyre said:

If he jumped would he of landed in the road and caused a pile up?

My other half and I actually came across a young lad aged just 17 hanging over the wrong side of a motorway bridge in the summer, poor bloody bugger was so confused, really upsetting to see

What happened?!

[Spare tyre]

We waited just could'nt leave him alone, mway shut, he was talked down by a negotiator.

I'm a no nonsense pull yourself together type, but I found it pretty distressing to be honest

He got sectioned, so hopefully getting help

[Durzel]

I guess it stops being worth it when 6 hours out of your day is equivalent to someone no longer living.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who feels suicide is their only escape from whatever ills or stresses they have. How would you kill yourself? A lot of people frankly talk a big game when it comes to describing how they would off themselves if they "felt mental", but in reality I bet most people - when it comes to the crunch - wouldn't be able to go through with the methods that involve a lot of participation & pain.

I'm pretty sure none of these people that actually do this are thinking about the disruption they will cause.

I'd probably be annoyed about this sort of thing myself if I was stuck in traffic, but I'd choose every time over being in the shoes of a jumper, or a family member having to deal with the grief of never seeing their loved one ever again.

[anonymous-user]

iwantagta said:

When does the preservation of 1 life stop being worth the massive disruption?

Personally I'd feel pretty disgusted with myself if I ever put a few hours of my time ahead of the possible preservation of someone else's life.

[Negative Creep]

Durzel said:

I guess it stops being worth it when 6 hours out of your day is equivalent to someone no longer living.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who feels suicide is their only escape from whatever ills or stresses they have. How would you kill yourself? I'm pretty sure none of these people that actually do this are thinking about the disruption they will cause.

I'd probably be annoyed about this sort of thing myself if I was stuck in traffic, but I'd choose every time over being in the shoes of a jumper, or a family member having to deal with the grief of never seeing their loved one ever again.

What about the people stuck in traffic that miss a wedding/funeral/last visit to a dying relative/job interview/important medical appointment? If you do decide to end it all I don't understand why it should be over a bridge/railway line etc that causes disruption to so many others

[Janesy B]

Mental illness is horrible, I suggest some people read up on it before calling people selfish pricks and idiots.

[4lf4-155]

I went last this at 12:30 bloke was stood on the outside if the bridge in a tshirt.

What I couldn't understand was the fact that they hadn't shut the motorway at junction 2 on the m42.

Traffic was allowed to build up behind the queue which went from junction 2 all the way to the police block half a mile before the cats hill interchange and had no where to go. The matrix signs just said slow queue ahead.

There were plenty of vehicles and man power at the scene of the incident so I would have thought they could have shut it at 2 and saved some people some hassle - particularly the people dressed for a wedding.

Glad the guy didn't jump and is now getting appropriate help but I feel for the people stuck in the queue with absolutely nowhere to go until the situation was resolved.

[Durzel]

Negative Creep said:

What about the people stuck in traffic that miss a wedding/funeral/last visit to a dying relative/job interview/important medical appointment? If you do decide to end it all I don't understand why it should be over a bridge/railway line etc that causes disruption to so many others

Well aside from the fact you're comparing hypotheticals with an actual example of someone attempting to commit suicide... like I said people in that frame of mind are very doubtfully thinking at all about the disruption they might cause, only of a way out that is quick and involves the minimum of thought & participation.

[GC8]

charltjr said:

iwantagta said:

When does the preservation of 1 life stop being worth the massive disruption?

Personally I'd feel pretty disgusted with myself if I ever put a few hours of my time ahead of the possible preservation of someone else's life.

But the country is now full of conceited, arrogant, stupid, self-important and self-centred people who believe that what suits them is more important than anything else.

[GC8]

Plenty of them post on Pistonheads, too.

[poing]

iwantagta said:

When does the preservation of 1 life stop being worth the massive disruption?

When it's one of your own family or friends. Imaging how you would feel after having this rant if you get a call later about a family member who tried to commit suicide today? Would you still feel like their life wasn't worth 6 hours?

[longshot]

There's a thread like this on here about every 6 months.

They are a useful tool to identify the cold hearted s amongst us.

[GC8]

longshot said:

There's a thread like this on here about every 6 months.

They are a useful tool to identify the cold hearted s amongst us.

They arent 'cold hearted' - that suggests some sort of strength of character. Theyre s though, but sad, pathetic s with weak characters.

You kind of hope that youll see them on a motorway bridge one day, but not stop.

[rallycross]

Durzel said:

I guess it stops being worth it when 6 hours out of your day is equivalent to someone no longer living.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who feels suicide is their only escape from whatever ills or stresses they have. How would you kill yourself? A lot of people frankly talk a big game when it comes to describing how they would off themselves if they "felt mental", but in reality I bet most people - when it comes to the crunch - wouldn't be able to go through with the methods that involve a lot of participation & pain.

I'm pretty sure none of these people that actually do this are thinking about the disruption they will cause.

I'd probably be annoyed about this sort of thing myself if I was stuck in traffic, but I'd choose every time over being in the shoes of a jumper, or a family member having to deal with the grief of never seeing their loved one ever again.

Seems like you have missed the point all together that the op is making.
6 hours closure = utter madness lost all grip of common sense.

[anonymous-user]

iwantagta said:

Fetch some netting. rig up. Taser. Bish bash bosh couple of hours max. If they jump whilst you are putting the netting out then so be it.

Cant be too difficult/expensive to get some netting rigs created ready to roll out for the next (patient).

We need to grow up - lives do have £ signs attached to them, we have a finite amount of it to spend and £1 billion PA (2011 DfT figure) is nonsense. Scrape them up and get it open.

Janesy B said:

Mental illness is horrible, I suggest some people read up on it before calling people selfish pricks and idiots.

V8RX7 said:

I agree - close the road (to avoid a pile up)

Then put out a net / airbag etc

And pull / push / taser them off.

It doesn't really matter how much people read up on it.

As iwantaagta states "someone needs to grow some balls".

Then the option is there for patient either way, or the V8RX7 solution.

They also should be using coning out and using incident screens on incidents like this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209715/Tr...

None of this bull we kept it shut for emergency service personnel safety, open and shut lanes to control traffic flow and let people through, you can guarantee politicians don't give a fook if the odd person loses their life or gets injured