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 (such as those deemed "suicide bridges"), observation decks, and other tall structures.
Suicide barriers may be erected for a variety of purposes beyond saving the lives of those attempting suicide. They are commonly used on pedestrian bridges that cross over train tracks or highways to prevent injury to other members of the public caused by jumping suicides and to keep transportation systems functioning efficiently. Similar reasoning is often cited for their use in subways. Suicide barriers have been employed to prevent trauma in neighbors who live in close proximity to jumping suicide hotspots, as has been done in cities such as Seattle. Media attention associated with jumping has also figured into the decision to install barriers in certain locations that wish to avoid association of their building or landmark with suicides.
Forms and materials
Suicide barriers come in a variety of forms and are constructed from sturdy materials. Most suicide barriers are fence-like metal structures that are made difficult to climb by inward curving tops.
Glass barriers have been deployed in some places to provide greater transparency and visual appeal. After an imposing fence was removed on the Grafton Bridge of Auckland, New Zealand, jumping suicides increased, and a glass barrier was installed.
Suicide barriers also include nets that extend from the structure or hang below it in order to preserve views outward. Suicide nets have been used on the Bern Muenster Terrace in Bern, Switzerland, and the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York. a wire mesh barrier is also being constructed on Golden Gate Bridge. It is expected to cost $200 million.
Efficacy
Research has shown suicidal thinking is often short-lived. Those who attempted suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge and were stopped in the process by a person did not go on to die by suicide by some other means. There are also a variety of examples that show restricting means of suicide have been associated with the overall reduction of it. However, whether suicide barriers on high places specifically are effective at saving lives is unclear and likely depends on both physical and cultural context.
Many studies have shown that well-designed suicide barriers stop people from jumping at a particular site, but no study has found the overall suicide rate within an area decreased significantly after a barrier went up as a result of that barrier. The effect of a suicide barrier on local jumping suicide rates has been mixed. Additionally, unlike guns, access to suicide or landmark bridges has not been found to be associated with higher overall suicide rates in Switzerland or the U.S.
Some case studies and large-scale studies are summarized below.
Prince Edward Viaduct / Bloor Street Viaduct
The Bloor Street Viaduct, also known as the Prince Edward Viaduct, was the second most deadly suicide bridge in North America at the time a custom designed suicide barrier known as the "Luminous Veil" was erected there. An initial study of that barrier's effectiveness, published in the British Medical Journal in 2010, showed in the four years after the barrier went up at the Bloor Street Viaduct, no more suicides occurred on that site. However, the jumping suicide rate in the city did not change in a way that was statistically significant, when adjusted for changes in the population. Jumping suicides from other bridges and structures in Toronto increased. There was a decrease in the overall suicide rate in Toronto during this time, but it could not be credited to the barrier, since there was no reduction in jumping suicide.