May Day warning to students
Magdalen Bridge is to be closed during this year’s May Day celebrations for the second year in a row. The decision comes after what the Council described as “the success of the 2006 May Morning closure”. The bridge was closed last year following the casualties of 2005, when 40 people, including many Oxford students, had to be treated by paramedics after jumping into less than two feet of water.
The police will be able to close Magdalen Bridge between 3am and 9am on May Day, with the bridge being guarded by 30 police officers and a further 30 stewards. Police Inspector Justin Archer said, “The bridge is only likely to be closed between approximately 4:30 and 7:30, after which it will be reopened for public use.” There will also be low-level fencing on the bridge to prevent people from jumping from it.
Mark Blandford-Baker, Home Bursar of Magdalen College, said, “The bridge is inherently dangerous, and there frankly isn’t a depth of the river which would be safe to jump into. The water in the Cherwell is currently at low summer levels.” John Kelly, County Emergency Planning Officer, told The Oxford Student that the bridge will also be closed on May Day next year.
Adrian Fellows, Emergency Planning Officer for South Central Ambulance Service, emphasized the real danger of jumping off Magdalen Bridge, saying, “In 2005 there were a lot of lower leg fractures and rib fractures, and someone on the bridge said you could actually hear the snap of the bones as people jumped in. Jumping from the bridge into the water is approximately a 30-foot drop, and the river has broken bottles, trolleys and dis- carded needles in.
Fifteen seconds of fame could mean a lifetime in a wheelchair”. In 2005, more than 100 people jumped off the bridge, with ten of them being taken to hospital in five ambulances. The scale and number of the injuries was such that Ox- ford’s hospitals came close to declaring a Major Incident Alert. There will be eight fewer police officers present than last year.
Police Inspector Justin Archer said, “We made a conscious decision to reduce the number of offi cers on duty on the day as a reflection of how well we thought it went last year”.
26th Apr 2007