TW: suicide, suicide attempt

The five-year, $224 million project to install nets on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to reduce the number of suicide deaths is saving lives as intended.
In 2024, there were eight deaths that resulted from jumping from the bridge. That number is down from approximately 30 deaths per year in the two decades prior to the installation.
In 2023, while the stainless steel suicide-deterrent system was being installed, there were 14 confirmed suicides, according to the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.
“The net is working as intended to save lives and deter people from coming to the Golden Gate Bridge to harm themselves,” said bridge spokesperson Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz in an email to SFGATE.
The National Institute of Health reports suicide attempts by jumping from bridges or heights usually accounts for less than 10 percent of attempts. However, a jump from a bridge or tall building is almost always lethal. Restricting access to high-risk areas including bridges, skyscrapers, monuments, waterfalls, steep rocks or cliff tops, the report said, is one of the most effective suicide prevention measures.
The net is installed 20 feet below the sidewalks and extends 20 feet over the water and covers 95 percent of the bridge’s 1.7 mile span.
It is similar to barriers erected on tall buildings and other bridges around the world. Bridge barriers have also been discussed in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The Golden Gate Bridge: A second chance
While a person may still jump after hitting the net, it is designed to give the person a second chance to reconsider the attempt.
Kevin Hines, a suicide prevention advocate, has spoken multiple times throughout Virginia about his suicide attempt in 2000 and the immediate regret he had after his jump.
Long before the suicide prevention nets were installed, Hines, suffering from both depression and bipolar disorder, jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. He miraculously survived the suicide attempt, and he has since dedicated his life to prevention efforts, including a mission to see nets installed at the bridge.
Hines, in an article on CNN, teared up when he saw the bridge construction under way for the first time.
“This is one of the most special days of my life,” he told CNN.
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