- The second-most used suicide bridge/site in the world only after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China.
- About 1,600 people have taken their lives by jumping off the bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge, a symbol of San Francisco, is the second-most used suicide bridge/site in the world only after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China. 1,600 people have taken their lives with the help of the Bridge that opened in 1937. The first suicide occurred just ten weeks after the opening ceremony.
Despite the suicide prevention measures like signs, cameras, patrols, and the fact that the bridge is closed to pedestrians at night, about once every two weeks someone jumps. Most of the jumpers die instantly from the impact, about 5% of the jumpers survive the impact, but drown or die of hypothermia in the cold waters of Pacific Ocean.
As a suicide prevention, the government has installed signs which promote telephones that connect to a crisis hotline. In 2015, a firm was hired to design a concept of a suicide prevention barrier and should be able to finish the project in three and a half years.
Light pole number 69, just in the middle of Bridge, facing East, is by far the most popular spot to jump. The east side of the bridge has a pedestrian walkway – hence, the reason most of the jumpings occur on that side.
And the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China mention before – suicides on the site are so common, that when a newspaper photographer tried to take a snap of heavy fog in 2013, he captured a couple’s suicide pact. Suicide rates, especially amongst young people, are high in China. Every two minutes a person tries to take its own life.
