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Local coroner and residents urge Glynn County to revisit bridge safety after rise in deaths
Summary
A former deputy coroner and community members urged the Glynn County Commission to revisit safety measures on a local destination bridge, citing an observed increase in suicides and asking the county to consider higher barriers and other interventions.
During public comment at the Sept. 18 Glynn County commission meeting, Kira Bird, who identified herself as a former deputy coroner, urged commissioners to revisit measures to reduce suicides from a local destination bridge.
Bird described past work placing suicide-prevention signage on bridges and said she had investigated more than 400 death cases in the county as a deputy coroner. She told the commission she has noticed a recent increase in people using the county bridge to end their lives and asked the board to consider structural changes such as higher barriers or other measures to make the bridge harder to scale.
"Why do we continue to abide the ownership of a destination bridge in our county with a wall so low it is almost an invitation?" Bird asked. She said destination bridges elsewhere had used changes in design and additional prevention measures that reduced incidents and offered to provide environmental impact studies and other materials to county staff.
The comment was a request for the board to reopen discussion of possible physical and policy changes; the meeting record does not include an immediate response from commissioners committing to specific action during the Sept. 18 session.
