Long Island Bridge.
 

Anyone see the kids jumping in between boat traffic from the Long Island Bridge yesterday? An accident waiting to happen!

For as long as bridges over water have existed, people have jumped from them—and I think it's a cool summer tradition that I'd hate to see go away.

I don't condone unsafe behavior, but every time I've seen kids jumping from the LI bridge there have been spotters to keep them out of harm's way.

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I don’t know about spotters, but the beautiful weather seems to have increased the sheer numbers of rafters, kids, fisherman, boats, swimmers….all of which contribute to a festive atmosphere but it greatly increases the care with which cars need to cross the bridge. Just this week, kids play rough housing on the sidewalk forced one very close to my car.

Numerous times I have seen people jumping into the Weirs Channel from the bridge. They have a spotter to tell them when no boats are coming.

It makes me uncomfortable to see it, just worried about an injury or a missed call from the spotter.

When I was a kid (circa 1978-1982), we used to routinely jump off the Weirs Beach bridge. I can't remember any close calls, but I do remember hitting the bottom once, which spooked me. Our friends owned the boathouse at Lighthouse Cottages and the boathouse at the channel so we used to jump off those all the time as well. We certainly had a lot of fun.

That said, my son when in 8th or 9th grade told my wife and I that he jumped off the trestle bridge in Lochmere. Scared the living you-know-what out of us. Thankfully, when I was younger, my parents had a somewhat healthy disinterest in what I was doing. Moral of the story, kids never change, but maybe parents do.

Jumping
 

I too recall kids jumping off the Weirs Bridge as well as the trestle in Lakeport. In the 50's-60's, the danger was not boats, but frequent trains. Also remember kids jumping off the top deck of the Mount when she was moored at the Weirs for the night but still open for tourists to walk aboard. And kids used to dive for coins when the Mount came into the dock and passengers were still on board. Also, the Judge's tower on the Weirs docks and the top deck at Irwin's Winnipesaukee Gardens.
There used to be a lot of fishing off the Governor's Island Bridge, but I don't recall jumpers.

I regularly jumped off the Long Island and Blackcat bridges. Like Major said, I’m not excited for my kids to do the same.

Get off my lawn you whippersnapper.

Every time I go over the LI bridge late in the day and see kids, smirks on faces waiting for me go pass by/go away so they can jump, I have the same thought. There ought to be a late summer, midweek, organized, town-sanctioned "LI bridge jump day." As envisioned, there would be a stable platform installed on the sidewalk for the event, designed for safe use, with the top over the railing. Without that, the top rail is too sloped/curved to stand; when you rise to standing on the top, in maybe one second you go one of two ways - back to the sidewalk or into the water. The area underneath would be cordoned off with swim-area floats/ropes, with room for boats to pass to the side. Spotters would be in place to make sure the landing zone is clear before the next jumper/diver could go. Maybe signed permission/waivers would be required. I'd be among all the kids participating that day ("Look - the old guy is going to do it!").

The chance of the above ever getting past the town's lawyers - zero!