A 56-year-old woman fell 100 feet off of a railroad trestle bridge in Gaviota Sunday afternoon, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
The woman reportedly survived with moderate to major injuries. A helicopter airlifted her to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara.
KCOY reports the woman landed on the beach. Santa Barbara County fire officials described the incident as an accident.
The fall didn’t kill her but the bill for the helicopter will.
This is California, she likely isn’t going to pay for it, we, the taxpayers will. We end up paying for everyone, not matter who’s to blame for something.
80 feet tall, or less (see below). I’d still like to know if she actually fell from the top deck.
Gaviota bridge: milepost 338.61, length 811, height: 80, year 1898
Ballasted deck. Eleven 30-foot deck-plate girders, eight 60-foot deck-plate girders. Abutments stone 1989. Steel bents on concrete piers. Span seventeen (60 feet) and additional intermediate bents 1935. Girders, bents, bracing reinforced 1935. Converted to ballasted deck 1952. Original bridge erected November 1900.
The height on the plan showed 69’2″ from the top of the footing to the top of the girder. One of the posts said 80′ which could be to the bottom of the footings which are partially buried. The 60′ girders had ribs added on the 2nd, and forth panels. They are 6′ high. The towers were doubled with an additional bent, and cross braces in ’37. These were made with different components than the originals.
Next we’d have to fence off the ocean so that people can’t feed themselves to the sharks.
The ocean is DEFINITELY an attractive nuisance. Same for Bishop Peak and Half Dome. Heck, there should be a government permit to leave the house. Most of the people in these stories don’t belong outdoors.
No way, that’s thinking about this in the wrong way. We most definitely DO want these people to go outdoors, take risks, etc. Thin the gene pool!
Mayor Marx would have an idea.
How is it that railroads are one of, if not the only, mass transit systems that do not have to have their property fenced to prevent dumb people from hurting themselves?
Freeways, airports, and ports of entry all must provide security fencing to prevent this sort of thing from occurring.
I understand the amount of fence that would be required, but how about at least requiring fencing inside the city limits and attractive nuisances such as grade crossings, tunnels, and bridges…
This wasn’t inside any city limits — do you know where Gaviota is? — so I don’t understand your point.
A fence is not going to fix stupid.
Here’s a novel idea for you, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!!! When I was a kid of 8 I had enough common sense to stay the heck away from the R.R. tracks. Heck it ran ten miles along a main drag (about 50 feet away) in our town and not ONE person was ever hurt or injured.
We must be producing stupider people over the years. Heck by your logic maybe we should just put fences up everywhere to protect the stupid people of society, instead of maybe having them pull their heads out of their a**es.
Almost sounds like an attempted suicide to me.
Seems like that is the case. Being 56, probably means she wasn’t climbing on the rails like a 10 year old boy.
That isn’t 100 feet, but it is quite impressive. I suspect she didn’t fall from the deck and was probably climbing underneath at a lower height.
Reporter Karen Velie, (805) 234-1703
Reporter Ben Di Gugliemo
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