San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge gets suicide net after 87 years

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The suicide deterrent system, also known as the net, has been installed around approximately 95% of the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) bridge.

"The purpose of the net is to reduce the number of deaths associated with individuals jumping off the Bridge," the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said in a statement.

"The net is a proven design that deters people from jumping, serves as a symbol of care and hope to despondent individuals, and, if necessary, offers people a second chance."

The stainless steel net was approved in 2014 but work did not start on it until four years later. There had also been pushback from those who claimed it affected the view or was too costly.

Kevin Hines is one of only around 40 people known to have survived after jumping off the bridge. He has since become a suicide prevention advocate.

Mr Hines was one of those who campaigned for the net.

"Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back, never shattered three vertebrae, and never been on this path I was on," Mr Hines told Associated Press.

"I'm so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important."

The Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District said that the net was already having its intended effect.

On an average year, it said there had been around 30 confirmed suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge.

But in 2023, while the net was still under construction, "there were 14 confirmed suicides, reducing the average number of suicides by more than half", it said in a statement."