All It Took to Prevent Golden Gate Bridge Suicides Was People Caring Enough to Try

"For decades, the average yearly count sat around 33 yearly fatalities. It's beyond notable, then, to be able to say the following: In the final seven months of 2025, there were zero known suicide deaths at Golden Gate Bridge. It's almost certainly the longest period without a death in the structure's 88 years in operation, and it's the result of a concerted effort at suicide prevention that should stand out as a model for activists and governments worldwide."

"Many more followed, and a certain mystique about the bridge as a suicide destination began to grow in a macabre corner of the public consciousness. On some level, the notoriety was earned in how deadly a jump from the bridge proved to be: At 245 feet above the Bay, a person falling has time to accelerate to about 75 mph by the time they hit the water, causing immediate death on impact in most cases, or immediate drowning."

The true number of people who died by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge is unknown because many deaths went unwitnessed and unrecorded. An official count was discontinued just before the 1,000th suicide in 1995 to avoid increasing the site's notoriety. Confirmed counts since the bridge opened in 1937 are frequently said to exceed 2,000, and the bridge historically averaged about 33 fatalities per year. In the final seven months of 2025 there were zero known suicide deaths, likely the longest death-free interval in its 88-year history. That interval followed a concerted suicide-prevention effort presented as a potential model. The first recorded jumper, just 10 weeks after opening, was Harold Wobber, a World War I veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, and a fall from the 245-foot span typically produces lethal impact or immediate drowning.

Read at Jezebel