Passing motorists, Metro bus passengers and truck drivers hurled insults and urged a distraught woman to jump from her perch on the railing of the Interstate 5 Ship Canal Bridge Tuesday morning.

High above the Ship Canal, a distraught 26-year-old woman sits on the southbound railing of the Interstate 5 bridge yesterday morning after leaving her car.

Police rushed to the scene to try to talk the 26-year-old Tacoma-area woman out of attempting suicide. But as the region's busiest freeway disintegrated into a massive traffic jam, the mood of some commuters grew ugly.

"People were yelling, 'Jump, bitch, jump!'" Seattle Police Department spokesman Clem Benton said. "Now who wants to hear that in this type of a situation?"