Suicides at Golden Gate Bridge drop 83% after San Francisco officials installed this safety feature

Suicides at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge have dramatically declined since officials installed a huge $400 million safety feature described as a 'cheese grater' earlier this year. 

A 20-foot-wide stainless steel mesh now lines both sides of the 2.7-kilometer bridge as both a deterrence for would-be jumpers, and as a literal safety net.

Since construction of the lifesaving barrier was completed on January 1 2024, there have only been three confirmed suicides - compared with the estimated 15 to 20 during the same period pre-net - a decrease of 83 percent.

Dennis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, said that landing on the net is designed to be painful.

'It's stainless-steel wire rope netting, so it's like jumping into a cheese grater,' Mulligan said. 'It's not soft. It's not rubber. It doesn't stretch. We want folks to know that if you come here, it will hurt if you jump.'

Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District spokesman Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz told The Mercury News this month that the net is 'working as intended to save lives and deter people from coming to the bridge to harm themselves'. 

Work on the barrier began in 2018 and was set to be completed by January 2021 but has been repeatedly delayed. 

Kevin Hines, who survived jumping from the structure in 2000, said he is 'grateful' that people working on the project never gave up.

'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,' he said. 

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

Hines is one of only 36 people to survive jumping from the bridge, and he's now a suicide prevention advocate. 

The net — placed 20 feet down from the bridge’s deck — is not visible from cars crossing the bridge. But pedestrians standing by the rails can see them. 

It was built with marine-grade stainless steel that can withstand the harsh environment that includes salt water, fog and strong winds that often envelop the striking orange structure at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay.

Suicide attempts have also declined since the safety barrier was completed. 

There have been 56 successful interventions this year involving first responders or bridge workers successfully talking people out of jumping, compared with an average 149 interventions needed over the same period before the net was in place. 

Firefighters in both San Francisco and Marin counties have been trained to climb down and rescue anyone who jumps into the nets. 

Meanwhile on the deck, members of a bridge patrol work to spot people considering suicide and prevent them from jumping. 

Nearly 2,000 people have plunged to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937. 

Support can be found through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988.