If you’ve crossed the Alex Fraser Bridge recently, you might have seen what looks like three yellow boxes attached to the railing on each side.
The transportation ministry has installed six new crisis phones on the bridge; two midspan and four at each end.
For now, they are not operational and remain covered in caution tape. The ministry said they will be activated in the coming weeks.
A ministry statement noted that callers “will be connected to the Surrey crisis centre for emotional support” and that the new phones are an ongoing effort in the province’s effort to help with suicide prevention.
Crisis phones have been in place for nearly a decade on the Lions Gate Bridge and were more recently installed on the Ironworkers Memorial, Second Narrows and Burrard Bridge.
According to the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC, individuals jumping off the Burrard, Granville, Ironworkers, Lions Gate and Pattullo bridges accounted for 50 per cent of suicide deaths by jumping between 1991 and 2007.
