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List of suicide locations

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The Luminous Veil on Toronto's Prince Edward Viaduct prevents people from jumping from that bridge, but has not been shown to affect overall citywide jumping suicide rates.

The following is a list of current and historic sites frequently chosen to attempt suicide, usually by jumping. Some of the sites listed have installed suicide barriers, signs advising potential suicides to take other actions, and other precautions, such as crisis hotline phones.

Exact numbers of victims are sometimes difficult to determine, as many jurisdictions and media agencies have ceased collecting statistics and reporting suicides at common sites, in the belief that the reporting may encourage others.[citation needed]

Most frequently used locations

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Locations by continent

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Africa

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Site City Region Country Notes and references
Ponte Apartment Building Johannesburg Gauteng  South Africa [10]
Van Stadens Bridge - Eastern Cape  South Africa 88 suicides since construction in 1971.[11]
Cairo Tower Cairo Cairo Governorate  Egypt

Asia

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The Mapo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea has been nicknamed "Suicide Bridge" and "The Bridge of Death" due to its frequent usage as a suicide hotspot, part of South Korea's ongoing suicide epidemic.
Site City Region Country Notes and references
The Dying Field Canton Guangdong  Qing dynasty Public plot of land where the sick, poor, and those who had given up on life could go to die undisturbed.[12]
Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Nanjing Jiangsu  China Over 2,000 suicides since 1968, ~50/year[citation needed]
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge Wuhan Hubei  China 24.7 suicides per year[13]
Hussain Sagar Hyderabad Telangana  India [14][15]
Delhi Metro Delhi Delhi  India At least 83 suicides[16]
Rabindra Sarobar metro station Kolkata West Bengal  India [17]
Milad Tower Tehran Tehran  Iran Until 2012, three suicides occurred by persons jumping from Milad Tower.
Tehran Metro Tehran Tehran  Iran
Aokigahara forest - Yamanashi  Japan Up to 105 suicides a year[7]
Mount Mihara Ōshima Tokyo  Japan An active volcano on the island of Izu Ōshima. After a suicide in 1933, media reports led to hundreds of copycats until 1936, when access was restricted.[18]
Shin-Koiwa Station Tokyo Tokyo  Japan [citation needed]
Tojinbo, Japan Sakai Fukui  Japan [citation needed]
Mapo Bridge Seoul Gyeonggi Province  South Korea [19][20]
Han River - -  South Korea [21][22]

Europe

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A sign at a railroad crossing in the Netherlands promoting a suicide crisis line (113)
Site City Region Country Notes and references
Nusle Bridge Prague Czech Republic  Czechia At least 365 deaths.[23]
Archway Bridge London London  England [24]
Beachy Head - East Sussex  England 20 suicides a year[25]
Clifton Suspension Bridge Bristol South West England  England More than 500 suicides since opening in 1864. Suicide barriers were installed in 1998, which halved the suicide rate over the years following.[26]
Humber Bridge Kingston-upon-Hull East Riding of Yorkshire  England More than 200 incidents of people jumping or falling from the bridge took place in the first 26 years after it opened in 1981.[27]
London Underground London London  England ~50 attempts annually[28]
The Monument London London  England Was the site of six suicides between 1788 and 1842, when the gallery was enclosed by an iron cage to prevent such misfortunes occurring again.[29]
Türisalu cliff Türisalu Harju County  Estonia [30]
Paris Métro Paris  France 20 to 40 deaths per year.[31]
Göltzsch Viaduct Reichenbach im Vogtland Saxony  Germany Exemplary attraction for attempting suicide in Germany,[32] under continued supervision by the Federal Police,[33] scene of a 2001 suicide pact that led to the 2002 documentary Teuflische Spiele (Diabolical Games).[34]
Kocher Viaduct Schwäbisch Hall Baden-Württemberg  Germany Highest bridge in the country. A suicide barrier was installed on the bridge after an unusually high 48 suicides between 1979 and 1990.[35]
Cliffs of Moher - County Clare  Ireland Four prevented suicides in 2008[36]
Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge Luxembourg City -  Luxembourg More than 100 suicides since opening in 1966. Since 1993, a Plexiglas barrier has prevented people from jumping off the bridge and falling on top of the houses below.[37]
Foyle Bridge Derry County Londonderry  Northern Ireland More than 90 suicides since 1984[38]
Karmsund Bridge Rogaland  Norway Estimated 25 suicides.[citation needed]
25 de Abril Bridge Lisbon Lisbon  Portugal [39]
Erskine Bridge Erskine East Renfrewshire  Scotland [citation needed]
Forth Road Bridge - Edinburgh  Scotland Estimated over 20 suicides a year – more than 800 since the bridge opened in 1964*[citation needed]
Segovia Viaduct Madrid Madrid  Spain Colloquially called the suicide bridge, starting from the 17th century until the 1990s, when it saw fatal falls at an average of one a week. A barrier was erected in 1998.[40]
Älvsborg Bridge Gothenburg Västra Götaland  Sweden [41]
Västerbron Stockholm Stockholm  Sweden [42][43]
Bosphorus Bridge Istanbul Marmara  Turkey [44]
Southerndown - Vale of Glamorgan  Wales Well-known in the local area for suicides; at least 9 between 2000 and 2003.[45]

North America

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Suicide hotline on the George Washington Memorial Bridge, Seattle, Washington
Site City Region Country Notes and references
Jacques Cartier Bridge Montreal  Quebec  Canada More than 143 suicides. Suicide barriers were erected in 2004.[46]
Prince Edward Viaduct Toronto  Ontario  Canada A suicide barrier was installed in 2003.
Toronto Subway Toronto  Ontario  Canada 150 people have killed themselves, and there have been an additional 100 attempts between 1998 and 2007.[47][48][49]
Niagara Falls -  Ontario/ New York  Canada/ United States Between 1856 and 1995 there were 2,780 known suicides; and there are 20 to 25 per year.[50]
Arrigoni Bridge Middletown  Connecticut  United States [51][52]
Colorado Street Bridge Pasadena  California  United States Has been the host of numerous falls/jumps starting as early as its construction, when a worker who had been drinking fell off the bridge into wet cement. It has hosted many suicides since, and a large barrier/fence has been installed to keep people from jumping.[citation needed]
Coronado Bridge (also known as San Diego–Coronado Bridge) San Diego  California  United States More than 200 suicides (1972–2000)[53]
Foresthill Bridge Auburn  California  United States Estimated 65 suicides since construction in 1973, actual number likely higher[54][55]
Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco  California  United States Official count halted at 997 to prevent "record breakers"[3][4]
Sunshine Skyway Bridge Tampa Bay  Florida  United States At least 264 suicides by jumping from the center span into the waters of Tampa Bay since the opening of the new bridge in 1987. In response, the State of Florida installed crisis hotline phones and began 24-hour patrols.[56][57] The song "Skyway Avenue" by We The Kings is about two lovers who decide to jump to their deaths together from this bridge.[58]
Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory Verona Island  Maine  United States 12 confirmed suicides since opening in 2006; more are suspected by authorities.[59][60] The state declined to install fencing around the bridge due to cost, and instead installed telephones connected to the suicide prevention hotline.[61]
Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge Southern Maryland  Maryland  United States
George Washington Bridge New York City  New York/ New Jersey  United States It has been averaging around 10 suicides per year and a record 18 in 2012.[62][63] 18-year-old Tyler Clementi jumped from the bridge in 2010 after being cyberbullied.
Tappan Zee Bridge Tarrytown  New York  United States More than 30 suicides between 2002 and 2012; sometimes referred to as "the Golden Gate Bridge of the East"[64] This bridge was replaced in 2017 by a new twin span with fencing on its pedestrian/bicycle path to deter jumpers.
Vessel New York City  New York  United States In the less than two years that the Vessel was open to the public, four people jumped to their deaths.[65] After the first three deaths, some limited changes were made to prevent suicide.[66] Following the fourth death, however, the Vessel has been closed indefinitely.[67]
Vista Bridge Portland  Oregon  United States [68][69]
George Washington Memorial Bridge ("Aurora Bridge") Seattle  Washington  United States More than 230 suicides since 1932,[70] with more than 50 from 1997 to 2007[71]
New River Gorge Bridge Fayetteville  West Virginia  United States [72][73]

Oceania

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Free telephones linked to suicide prevention hotline installed at the Story Bridge footpath in Brisbane
Site City Region Country Notes and references
Echo Point Blue Mountains  New South Wales  Australia [74]
Grafton Bridge Auckland Auckland 78  New Zealand Suicide barriers were removed in 1996 after being in place for 60 years but replaced in 2003.[75]
Lawyer's Head Dunedin Otago  New Zealand [76]
Mooney Mooney Bridge Central Coast  New South Wales  Australia Because of its height (making it a known suicide bridge), a fence was erected in 2003 to deter people from jumping off. The fence cost around $1,000,000.[77]
Story Bridge Brisbane  Queensland  Australia Brisbane's Story Bridge is notorious for its suicides, having been compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.[78] Free telephones have been installed on the bridge, and the bridge also has a three-metre-high safety barrier.[79]
Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney  New South Wales  Australia Although the bridge is not as well-known for suicides as many others in Australia, the bridge has had numerous suicides and incidents (intentional or not) that occur on the bridge usually lead in death.[80]
The Gap Sydney  New South Wales  Australia A large sea cliff. Roughly 50 suicides a year [9]
West Gate Bridge Melbourne  Victoria  Australia Had "up to one" suicide every three weeks.[81] Suicide rates on the bridge have dropped by 85% since prevention barriers were installed by the state government in 2009.

South America

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Site City Region Country Notes and references
São Paulo Metro São Paulo São Paulo  Brazil The Metro, as other subway networks in Brazil, have a policy not to publicly disclose the number of suicides taking place in any given period to prevent further attempts
Third Bridge Vitória Espírito Santo  Brazil The construction of a suicide prevention net is currently being discussed by public authorities and the concessionary of the bridge.[82]
Costanera Center Santiago Santiago  Chile Dubbed as the "suicide mall", the fifth floor and the surrounding stairs had to be covered with large fences due to suicide rates.[83][84]
Puente de la Virgen

(Virgin's Bridge)

Bogotá Bogotá  Colombia [85]
Viaducto García Cadena Bucaramanga Santander  Colombia [86]
Eduardo Villena Rey Bridge Lima Lima  Peru The bridge had to be covered with large windows due to suicide rates. The street under the bridge is believed to be haunted.[87]

See also

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References

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  3. ^ a b Bone, James (13 October 2008). "The Times". New York. Archived from the original (ECE) on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  4. ^ Melina, Remy (19 April 2011). "How Did Teen Survive Fall from Golden Gate Bridge?". Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
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