The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. It also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California.
The Prince Edward Viaduct System, commonly referred to as the Bloor Viaduct, is the name of a truss arch bridge system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, connecting Bloor Street East, on the west side of the system, with Danforth Avenue on the east. The system includes the Rosedale Valley phase and the Sherbourne Phase, an embankment built to extend Bloor Street East to the Rosedale Ravine from Sherbourne Street. The Don Valley phase of the system, the most recognizable, spans the Don River Valley, crossing over the Bayview Avenue Extension, the Don River, and the Don Valley Parkway.
A suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, or brain damage.
Jumping from a dangerous location, such as from a high window, balcony, or roof, or from a cliff, dam, or bridge, is a common suicide method. The 2023 ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for jumping from a high place is X80*, and this method of suicide is also known clinically as autokabalesis. Many countries have noted suicide bridges such as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Other well known suicide sites for jumping include the Eiffel Tower and Niagara Falls.
A suicide bridge is a bridge used frequently by people to end their lives, most typically by jumping off and into the water or ground below. A fall from the height of a tall bridge into water may be fatal, although some people have survived jumps from high bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge. However, significant injury or death is far from certain; numerous studies report minimally injured persons who died from drowning.
The Joy of Life is a 2005 experimental landscape documentary film by filmmaker Jenni Olson about the history of suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge, and the adventures of a butch lesbian in San Francisco, California. Following its January 2005 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the film played a pivotal role in renewing debate about the need for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge and garnered praise and awards for its unique filmmaking style.
The Bridge is a 2006 documentary film by Eric Steel spanning one year of filming at the Golden Gate Bridge which crosses the Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco Bay, connecting the city of San Francisco, California to the Marin Headlands of Marin County, in 2004. The film shows a number of suicides, and features interviews with family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge that year and one person who had jumped previously and survived.
Philippine Airlines Flight 812 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila. On May 25, 2000, an Airbus A330-301 operating on the route was hijacked by a man later identified as Reginald Chua, just before the airplane was about to land. The flight carried 278 passengers and 13 crew members.
A suicide barrier is a structure intended to deter people from attempting suicide by deliberately jumping from a high place on a structure. Suicide barriers often consist of nets, metal screening, and fencing. Suicide barriers may be placed on tall bridges, observation decks, and other tall structures.
988 is a telephone number used in some North American (NANP) countries for a suicide prevention helpline. In the United States, it is known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In Canada, it is known as the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline.
A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is a successful or desirable outcome.
Overtoun Bridge is a category B-listed structure over the Overtoun Burn on the approach road from the west to Overtoun House, near Dumbarton in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It was completed in 1895, based on a design by the landscape architect H. E. Milner.
David H. Rosen is an American psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and author, who was the first holder of the McMillan Professorship in Analytical Psychology, Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, and Professor of Humanities in Medicine at Texas A&M University. Although retired, he edited The Soul of Art (2017) by Christian Gaillard, which is the twentieth volume in the Fay Book Series in Analytical Psychology. The new editor of the Fay Book Series is Michael Escamilla who was named the McMillan scholar at The C.G. Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas.
Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2022 there were 5,642 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 15 suicides per day. 74.1% of suicides in England and Wales in 2022 were males. In Scotland there were 762 probable suicides in 2022, equating to an average of 2 suicides per day. In Northern Ireland there were 203 suicide deaths registered in 2022. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK.
Sergeant Kevin Briggs is a California Highway Patrol officer noted for his work in suicide intervention, having dissuaded more than two hundred people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay. In 2013, Briggs retired from the California Highway Patrol to focus his efforts on suicide prevention.
Between 1937 and 2012, an estimated 1,400 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.
Natasha Zouves is an American broadcast journalist. She is a network anchor and investigative reporter at NewsNation. She was honored as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and holds a masters from Johns Hopkins in Biotechnology Enterprise & Entrepreneurship. Zouves was previously a news anchor and reporter for KGO-TV in San Francisco, California.
Dese'Rae L. Stage is an American photographer, writer, speaker, and suicide awareness activist. She created Live Through This, a multimedia series of portraits and true stories of nearly 200 suicide attempt survivors across the United States.
Jazz Thornton is a New Zealand mental health activist, author, speaker, TikToker and filmmaker. Thornton co-founded a suicide prevention organisation, Voices of Hope, with eating disorder activist Genevieve Mora. Thornton has written three books: an autobiography Stop Surviving, Start Fighting,My Journey Starts Here, a guided journal for improving well-being, and Letters to you, a book of letters to provide support, information, encouragement and tips on practical help for anyone suffering low moments. The 2020 New Zealand documentary The Girl on the Bridge deals with her struggles with mental health. In the documentary, Thornton meditated on losing her friend Jess to suicide.
