Hidden misdeeds

I am now in the process of preparing for my trip to the beach this coming weekend, but as of yet I’ve not figured out a way to be able to see the mini-Skyway monster as a part of our trip. But even if I can’t manage to deviate from our planned route, it still looks as though we will be crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I am just hoping that the weather will hold out, as of now they are calling for rain. Yes, it has been hot and sunny all summer, but when I get the chance to hit the beach, they call for rain!

Speaking of Delaware’s mega metal monster, I had been doing a photo search of it online a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for one of those shots that enhanced its steepness, much like that news footage of the Key Bridge that scared me so long ago. Many of the pictures I found were linked to various news articles referencing the bridge. And I didn’t get very far down into the photos before I started finding some articles about jumpers. One that stood out to me was about a woman who jumped a few years ago. Once she stopped her car atop the monster’s span, she was courteous enough to turn on the hazard lights so to warn other drivers of a stationary vehicle in the roadway. Despite her purposefully fatal appointment with the green monster, she apparently did not want anyone else to be injured or killed by running into her stopped car. It seems that the Delaware monster isn’t innocent with regards to playing host to those who plan to die. This really isn’t surprising, as it is a mid century contemporary of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Both have been around for a long time, long enough to rack up a good body count. It doesn’t seem that the Delaware Memorial Bridge is, or has been, a major site of jumping, but then again, that data can be hard to ascertain. The victim in question was a Maryland resident, but for some reason she chose that epic steel beast of the east to end her life. That decision may have been proximity based, as the northeastern corner of Maryland isn’t far from that bridge.

Doctor Frankenstein was ultimately unable to cover up his monster’s misdeeds and mayhem. But the governing bodies that ostensibly control and maintain metal and concrete monsters often do far better than that infamous mad scientist. Meaning, of course, that they often do a very satisfactory job of obfuscating the death toll of their bridges. The reasoning behind this seems to be that if more people were aware of such statistics, there would be even more who would seek out the lethal “services” of such monsters. And that seems to be true, to an extent. Human serial killers are generally very proud of their predatory prowess, but not so the humans who build, maintain and administer these concrete and steel agents of self destruction. This secrecy naturally helps to lend a greater air of mystery, mistrust and fear to such structures. Which is on top of the all of the other psychological factors that figure into the way a bridge might be regarded by those who are in proximity to it and who make use of it.