SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Attention Spiderman: California needs you.
The state highway patrol, hoping to avoid another epic traffic jam caused by a suicide jumper on a major bridge, wants inventors to design and build a gun that can capture would-be jumpers in a spider-like web.
"At this point we're about ready to put out a request for a proposal," said California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall. "And we'll just see if there's some technology that might be usable."
The idea for a suicide spider gun was first floated by a local radio talk-show host following a 13-hour standoff between cops and a blade-wielding man threatening to jump off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Marshall said.
After hours in traffic, some motorists were so furious that some yelled out for the man to jump.
The April 2 incident cost the highway patrol an estimated $100,000 in overtime and other expenses, Marshall said, not to mention the costs of the delays to the region.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=4955170
The state highway patrol, hoping to avoid another epic traffic jam caused by a suicide jumper on a major bridge, wants inventors to design and build a gun that can capture would-be jumpers in a spider-like web.
"At this point we're about ready to put out a request for a proposal," said California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall. "And we'll just see if there's some technology that might be usable."
The idea for a suicide spider gun was first floated by a local radio talk-show host following a 13-hour standoff between cops and a blade-wielding man threatening to jump off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Marshall said.
After hours in traffic, some motorists were so furious that some yelled out for the man to jump.
The April 2 incident cost the highway patrol an estimated $100,000 in overtime and other expenses, Marshall said, not to mention the costs of the delays to the region.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=4955170