Help is just a phone call away

Hey Matt!!

At the top of the Coronado bridge are the (in)famous "Need Help?" signs with a phone number for counseling. Why aren't there any phones up there? These signs have been up way before everyone carried cell phones. Do they actually expect someone in that fragile of a state to go up there, see the signs, write down the number, and then come down to sea level and make a call?

-- Emily =), the net

According to the county mental health folks, if it was their choice, there would be phones all over the bridge, the second most jumped-off after the Golden Gate. There is a phone at the Coronado end, connected directly to counselors, so at least no one in crisis has to remember to bring a pencil and paper. But the traffic safety powers that be shudder at the thought of ordinary non-crisis people parking on the bridge and hopping out to call AAA. Because the bridge was designed as a landmark piece of scenery, not a traffic engineer's dream, there are no emergency lanes and no room for anybody to do anything except keep driving.