It took decades, but San Francisco finally installs nets to stop suicides off Golden Gate Bridge
Kevin Hines regretted jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge the moment his hands released the rail and he plunged the equivalent of 25 stories into the Pacific Ocean, breaking his back.
Hines miraculously survived his suicide attempt at age 19 in September 2000 as he struggled with bipolar disorder, one of about 40 people who survived after jumping off the bridge.
Hines, his father, and a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge relentlessly advocated for a solution for two decades, meeting resistance from people who did not want to alter the iconic landmark with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.
On Wednesday, they finally got their wish when officials announced that crews have installed stainless-steel nets on both sides of the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) bridge.
“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,” said Hines, now a suicide prevention advocate. “I’m so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important.”
Nearly 2,000 people have plunged to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.
City officials approved the project more than a decade ago, and in 2018 work began on the 20-foot-wide (6-meter-wide) stainless steel mesh nets. But the efforts to complete them were repeatedly delayed until now.
The nets — placed 20 feet (6 meters) down from the bridge’s deck — are not visible from cars crossing the bridge. But pedestrians standing by the rails can see them. They were 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.
How about instead of nets, we instead install a functioning mental health care system. This has ‘put bulletproof vests on school kids’ written all over it.
Why not both haha. But yes I agree. 2k people killing themselves off this since it's open is insane
This says 4000 people died by suicide in California in one year. 2k people over almost 100 years isn't crazy. These nets won't make a dent in the yearly total.
Damn. We gonna need a lot more nets then
We'll need nets around every handgun.
The question is how many of those suicides were conducted by jumping off the bridge. And don’t say “they’d just choose another way to end themselves”. Studies and historical evidence shows that making suicide even slightly less convenient to perform actually does save lives. People get fixated on a method that seems easy. When that method is no longer easy, it gives them a chance to not go through with it.
Oh, for sure! I meant to counter the statement that 2k in a 100 years was an insane amount. 4k in one year is insane.
Bulldoze the bridge and exterminate everyone.
No more suicides.
Judge Death approves.
It's the moral and environmentally friendly thing to do so.
Why bulldoze the bridge if there aren't any people left anyway? That sounds wasteful.
eh, but making this net prolly just makes them kill themselves in other (perhaps more harmful) places, like off train platforms and using guns
Now ask yourself if we had proper quality healthcare for this, how many of those 2,000 would still be with us- vs. if we had nets.
I guarantee every one of them would have found another way.
Oh no this is definitely true. I still would like to advocate for mental health services and better access for sure
Mental health care, but also better wealth distribution/quality of living for everyone.
Yeah, all the mental health care in the world doesn't mean jack shit when you're living paycheck to paycheck your entire life.
Mental health care professionals and their shills will of course say otherwise, though.
It's always about the money.
All the mental healthcare in the world doesn't make the world a more acceptable living space.
"Have you tried therapy?"
uhhhh, cheers.
"What colour do you want your dragon?"
Rofl, make it a very hungry one please (that's s colour, right?).
Actually, make it like an eco terrorist type of thing, just attaching random shit that is causing loss is various habitats & ecosystems around the world. That would be pretty cool, like gleefully look at the news 'Let's see what the unstoppable Dragonzilla
destroyedbalanced or rescued today.'What about door kicking and room clearing during homeroom?
/s
Also reminds me there's a thing called "social safety net" (that each year becomes smaller and smaller)
The US government is going to do literally everything it can other than provide universal Healthcare until the country collapses.
Wait you're telling me this isn't what they meant by safety nets??
The physical, not social kind. "We'll catch you when you fall... this is not a metaphor."
I'm pretty sure California is in the process of implementing its own state-funded healthcare system.
It's the way to do it, just like with legalizing drugs.
For real. It would be interesting to see the average financial depth of the people who attempt suicide in the US.
Nets are cheaper than mental health care.
This reminds me of the time San Francisco decided to do something about it's human-feces-in-the-BART-escalator-wells problem, not by making public restrooms available to unsheltered folk, but building stupid awnings to keep people from pooping inside. The awnings cost more than the toilets would have and people just pooped on the sidewalks instead. ℹ️🫶🌉😀
Curious since I'm not familiar, how do the awnings prevent this? I went to SF a few years ago and there was a giant pile of human shit every 4 blocks so I'm not too surprised.
They basically close off the street level entrance when the transit isn't running. The escalators used to be open at the top and closed at the bottom during off hours, making a lovely little private pooping tunnel. The city budget people didn't GAF about the bio hazard or human dignity issues, they just didn't like that all the excrement kept breaking the escalators.
Old article from before they implemented them (the article mentions the budget proposal being $4 million, it's turned into $64 million and counting).
https://thebolditalic.com/why-is-there-so-much-human-shit-on-the-streets-the-bold-italic-san-francisco-ccaecdc7512
This guy Friedenbach sounds like he knows his shit.
$4 million for one canopy.
FTA:
Odd, I lived in the Bay Area for years and never once saw a pile of human excrement in the city.
It must be a fairly recent phenomenon then. I was there in 2022 and it was quite sad to see the amount of people left homeless around the city.
There's an increasing number of homeless people in all cities. The streets just aren't paved in turds like some people apparently love to pretend.
Reminds me of that Bojack Horseman poem.
"But this is it, the deed is done silence drowns the sound. Before I leaped I should've seen the view from halfway down.
I really should’ve thought about the view from halfway down. I wish I could've known about the view from halfway down—"
It's a fucking amazing poem and had me in tears the first time I saw that episode.
People falling that 30 feet and being stopped in the act may help them see that jumping, or suicide in general is not the answer.
Great show.
The weak breeze whispers nothing
The water screams sublime
His feet shift, teeter-totter
Deep breath, stand back, it’s time
Toes untouch the overpass
Soon he’s water bound
Eyes locked shut but peek to see
The view from halfway down
A little wind, a summer sun
A river rich and regal
A flood of fond endorphins
Brings a calm that knows no equal
You’re flying now
You see things much more clear than from the ground
It’s all okay, it would be
Were you not now halfway down
Thrash to break from gravity
What now could slow the drop
All I’d give for toes to touch
The safety back at top
But this is it, the deed is done
Silence drowns the sound
Before I leaped I should’ve seen
The view from halfway down
I really should’ve thought about
The view from halfway down
I wish I could’ve known about
The view from halfway down
20 foot drop onto "nets" made of stainless steel? I feel like this may still be a fatal fall.
Edit: I'm not negative on the idea, but it sounds like you are still having a pretty bad time if one of these nets saves your life.
Stainless steel can be woven into a net that would break the fall, I don't know if that's how it works but it would be possible.
I just read a guardian article about it, it's actually kind of fucked up:
Notice it says CURB the death rate, which sounds like they anticipate some people will still die? Jesus ffs.
Yeah that's pretty fucked up. Sounds like the punishment for trying to kill yourself is intentional maiming or possible death. Sheesh.
Now I am kinda negative on the idea.
Everything I've read about them states that they're specifically designed to be non-lethal.
I agree that on the surface it sounds inhumane. But if it didn't hurt much, just think of all the Tiktokers that would turn this into a challenge.
Love the NIMBY ass “we don’t want effective barriers to keep people from jumping because then we cant see the view, so put in an invisible torture device that will horribly maim and punish people already so far gone they’ve decided to end it” approach. Really sums up San Francisco. Why don’t they just install a fucking Suicide Booth at each end of the bridge. They clearly aren’t after stopping attempts, they just don’t want to look at it. Easier to find a corpse in the human fishing net 20 feet down than trolling the bay.
We make fun of China for installing similar nets on their buildings. Maybe we can consider some time actually doing something about the cause of suicide rather than just stopping the action. Healthcare, especially mental healthcare, poverty, housing. But no, just nets.
Ok, I feel dark for making this meme.
I for one, love it. Nice work. The subject is uncomfortable, but this is absolutely a valid criticism of the system and the outcome in this case.
The fact that you used a meme based on a pawn shop - an institution that tends to take advantage of people on hard times - makes this dark and pithy. The only thing more fitting would be a payday loan center, but thankfully that hasn't made it to reality TV just yet.
Those nets are on factories though. That is QUITE different. Where in the USA are suicide nets built into the infastructure of businessess and work places to keep the workers from commiting suicide there? I agree they suck at providing the healthcare and stuff but to equate suicide nets on a bridge to suicide nets on places of employment is absolutely not taking into consideration the nuances of both situations.
Us workers don’t live on site like they do there. There were 800,000 workers living in dorms on site when those articles all came out. That doesn’t exist in the US. The suicide rate at the time there was lower than in every US State for comparison.
Well this attitude leads to not only increased homelessness, buy I guess also suicide rates 🙁
I mean, there's a solution that doesn't involve altering the landmark, but would those people support actually fixing the problem?
Ensuring people's basic needs are met and they have access to mental health support is a lot more difficult than putting an unsightly band-aid on the problem.
Good point. I apologize for a fairly off the cuff remark about this. We really do need better mental health support in the US.
But golden gate doesn't have anything inherent that pushes people to commit suicide. I feel like it's wasted money if the only thing this means is that this will happen somewhere else, what's the point then? Wouldn't it be spent better on mental healthcare for those who need it the most?
Edit 0: (I'm not super angry that they did install the nets, sure why not, it's not that expensive anyways, but I don't really feel like it solves the real issue. I'm mostly talking from my opinions and I don't have that many facts on this topic, maybe tackling suicide hot-spots does indeed reduce the statistic, I sincerely hope so but I doubt it)
Edit 1: After reading the article https://archive.is/Uuyx3 suggested by @Chetzemoka@startrek.website I feel like I was wrong in my initial assessment. Indeed it looks like there is a category of impulsive suicide that might be avoided with these barriers. I thank everyone who is contributing solid arguments to this difficult conversation. Despite the disagreements I see on the comments I believe we are all united in the feeling that this is a painful tragedy that we don't want to be part of this world
People actually travel to San Fran specifically to jump off that bridge because it is iconic.
Don't be so sure about that. Check out some of this research.
Believe it or not, reducing access to lethal means actually reduces the number of deaths by suicide, and we have robust data to back this up.
"Nine out of ten people who attempt suicide and survive will not go on to die by suicide at a later date. This has been well-established in the suicidology literature. A literature review (Owens 2002) summarized 90 studies that have followed over time people who have made suicide attempts that resulted in medical care. Approximately 7% (range: 5-11%) of attempters eventually died by suicide, approximately 23% reattempted non-fatally, and 70% had no further attempts."
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/survival/
We ALSO need to improve people's material conditions and provide better mental health care. But even in societies with strong social safety nets, people still die by suicide. Reducing access to lethal means will reduce deaths, giving people time and opportunity to access any social safety net that exists.
There's one particularly fascinating case study out of Washington state:
"Running perpendicular to the Ellington Bridge, a stone’s throw away, is another bridge, the Taft. Both span Rock Creek, and even though they have virtually identical drops into the gorge below - about 125 feet - it is the Ellington that has always been notorious as Washington’s “suicide bridge.” By the 1980s, the four people who, on average, leapt from its stone balustrades each year accounted for half of all jumping suicides in the nation’s capital. The adjacent Taft, by contrast, averaged less than two.
After three people leapt from the Ellington in a single 10-day period in 1985, a consortium of civic groups lobbied for a suicide barrier to be erected on the span. Opponents to the plan...had the added ammunition of pointing to the equally lethal Taft standing just yards away: if a barrier were placed on the Ellington, it was not at all hard to see exactly where thwarted jumpers would head.
Except the opponents were wrong. A study conducted five years after the Ellington barrier went up showed that while suicides at the Ellington were eliminated completely, the rate at the Taft barely changed, inching up from 1.7 to 2 deaths per year. What’s more, over the same five-year span, the total number of jumping suicides in Washington had decreased by 50 percent, or the precise percentage the Ellington once accounted for."
And you know why twice as many people jumped off the Ellington vs. the Taft bridge in the first place? Because the railings on the Taft were slightly higher and therefore harder to scale.
I don't know if this article is paywalled or how to fix that, but it also contains details of a specific study conducted on people who intended to, but didn't jump off the Golden Gate bridge specifically. The absurdity of how minor an obstacle was required to prevent their deaths is amazing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html
Woops, looks like I'm wrong in my comment!
Thank you so much for sharing the NY article, I still need to read it more times and take notes! For other people interested, it can be read at https://archive.is/Uuyx3. I definitely wasn't aware of this impulsive behavior when it came to suicide and the low rate of re-attempt that follows. I was surprised when I read the following:
I had a vision of suicide where it happened in a more nihilistic and complex way, or at least, something veery different from deciding you would kill yourself in 5~ minutes. I also wasn't aware that 2000 people had died at the golden gate, it does indeed sound like many of these cases are rushed or not premeditated. More importantly, the "Ellington barrier" example is a solid argument to install such barriers
I encourage others interested on the topic to read the article!
I think it can be nice. Could stop unintentional falls by kids or drunk people too. Or just people fucking around by the edge of the bridge. Happens all the time in Yellowstone and Grand Canyon NP. People accidently take a 500+ foot header off the cliffs trying to get a picture or get a better view.
Yeah, fair point!
There is a pretty harrowing documentary about people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Apparently it happens so often that if you set up a camera, after long enough you will catch lots of people considering it and doing it.
I think it's called "The Bridge"? It was on YouTube when I watched it years ago, dunno if it's still there. Maybe someone else will find it. But heads up, it's not exactly a fun watch.
So, now you just need to jump from the net after it catches you? That does not seem like much of a barrier.
every barrier helps, most suicide attempts are impulse decisions. forcing people to jump 30 feet into a net before they can jump a lethal distance makes it that much harder to follow through.
100%.
Source
But is it saving anyone or are they jumping from somewhere else?
Probably a bit of both. "Successful" suicide and following through with ideation is partly about opportunity. This is why likelihood of suicide is higher in homes with firearms, especially handguns, that are easy to access. Making following through with a suicidal impulse or ideation mitigates the situation for long enough for a good portion of people to shake it and/or get help.
There are still those that will seek out another way but, by mitigating the risk at the Golden Gate, resources that have been needed there can be partially re-allocated to other spaces to catch those that are still slipping through. In a sense, it's a bit like triage and whack-a-mole, where the population at the next target is likely smaller.
Not an impulse decision. It's been what I've wanted for the past couple years. When I tried, my finger wouldn't pull the trigger just like Dolores couldn't do it at first in Westworld.
I think it's more "successful suicide" is generally an impulse decision because that disallows our self-preservation time to kick in.
That said, are you ok? Need someone to talk to? Why have you desired to end your life?
I'm not a qualified mental health professional but would be willing to lend a virtual ear, if you need it, and see if I can help to find resources available to you. I'm not going to be terribly available today but please feel free to DM me.
Self preservation is an impulse.
Wow, some absolute lemon actually downvoted you.
Think of the first fall as a "proof of concept". If after falling ~20 feet to a chain link fence, you still feel like dragging your injured self to the edge of the fence to finish the job, then it's highly unlikely anything will stop you from killing yourself. The fence is kind of a "try before you buy" thing.
Pain is not death. False advertising.
A 20' drop to a steel rope net wouldn't be a soft landing. It's unlikely anyone would be able to, or be interested in, crawling to edge to finish the job.
Oh so you injure the person and laden them with medical debt, America really is great >:)
They injure themselves.
Lol, what is up with this comment chain?
They injure themselves? What are you trying to say?
They injure themselves because they are the ones who choose to jump...
So why not just let them choose death?
This is still going to hurt a lot of people that jump, probably still broken backs and the occasional death.
This is one of those "clever" comments that are actually just retarded if you think about it.
Did you read the article? One guy who jumped said he regretted it immediately after falling. This gives people an opportunity to experience that same regret before they try doing it again.
I'm from Melbourne. We had a problem with people jumping from the West Gate bridge and we engineered safety barriers that reduced suicides to zero.
That's right. Zero.
It even reduced the jump rate by 65% at our other bridges. All that, without looking cheap and ugly AF.
Photo of bridge
Did it actually reduce suicides though, or just redirect them to other means?
All that and The Golden Gate Bridge is still way better looking. It's not even close.
Yes, reducing access to methods reduces overall suicide rates and people prevented from suicide on the Golden Gate have historically gone on to live.
Holy shit, 6m down onto inflexible steel mesh. For reference, a 5 meter diving platform is significantly higher than a normal American high dive. That would really fucking hurt. But it would save your life.
Might be intentional. If it was closer/less of a drop, it might just become "another handrail" where the "oh shit I don't want to do this" doesn't happen until after you jump off the net. By making it such a big drop, you increase the chances of that realization happening first, and if the net causes an injury, that might also stop the person from making it to the edge of the net and going over.
Basically, by making it a big drop it's become a bigger obstacle, which could increase effectiveness.
Ok this pretty much answers my question. I think you're right. I was thinking. What's stopping them from jumping off the net after the jump onto it.
But ive heard of people who survive attempted suicide by jumping almost all regret it while jumping off.
Well, there goes my vacation plans this year.
Does the bay bridge have nets too?
No but you can’t walk out onto the bay bridge as easily as with Golden Gate.
The new eastern span has a really nice pedestrian walkway and bidirectional bike path between Oakland and Treasure Island.
The old western span does not have a walkway, so you need to enter from treasure island or Oakland / Emeryville.
Took a century near enough, didn't it?
... sure hope the contractor doesn't install razor-sharp steel net by mistake to spaghettify (french fry cut?) anything falling on it ...
It's steel wire, this is gonna turn some people into french fries a la Cube
At such a small distance? Maybe some bruises at worst.
depends on the size of the holes in the net and whether the person jumps pencil or belly flop
So you are saying they should skip the complicated nonsense & just install safety laser nets (like those in Resident Evil movie & a few others probably) ...
Are you 12?
No, but I'm sure I've seen Jerry do this to Tom when I was 12.
So your justification is a cartoon?
Depends what I would have to justify.
I can't justify (ever) being 12, I was forced to exist without my consent.
Can't they just jump off the net?
This logic doesn't track for me. How would a new have led to police intervention and help? Or, am I now realizing they mean after the jump and landing in the net, then there would be police? But it's phrased poorly. The net would stop the death, not police. What a crappy sentence. I truly can't tell.
What's the point? Someone who wants to kill themselves will probably find another way. It's not like there's a shortage of ways to commit suicide. I could literally list 1000 ways to do it in this comment but I'm too lazy.
"Oh man, there's a net over the bridge, I guess I'm not killing myself now. Oh well." — Someone living on an 8th floor.
Go for the root cause and attack the mental health issues...
It looks like it’s still saving the people that made impulsive decisions, and for everyone else more determined, you’re right they will still go.
But a life saved is a life saved my dude, and about 30 people a year were jumping off before the net, you can’t assume every one of them will just off themselves somewhere else.
I'm not saying "don't save lives", I'm saying "you could have saved more lives with the same money"
While that’s true, you literally started the conversation asking what the point was, and the few saved lives is the point.
It’s also impossible to calculate the amount of lives saved over time from the preventative effect of people deciding not to use it now since it may not work.
They can always raise more money to now spend elsewhere, but those lives lost are forever.
I'd argue the real root of the problem is the disparity in wealth.
I don't know, do we have demographics on suicide per income levels?
More equal societies are happier ones.
Makes sense, it's not about who is rich and poor but about being equals.
Thanks for charging $120 per resident to build a mega hammock for homeless 👍
/s? Surely you don't actually think people want to live in a net.
I surely don't think a net is stopping anyone from offing themselves let alone even begins to address the real issue. Was building it: a) virtue signaling by the city committee b) a great way to blow $224M to hide and pocket some money by contracting affiliated businesses c) useless in terms of actually addressing underlying mental health issues d) all of the above
You tell me. Surely a cool luxurious mega hammock with a view though.
Downvote me all you want, but you can't change facts - out of 244 confirmed suicides in SF between 2018 and 2020 only 30 were confirmed to have happened due to the GG bridge. That's 12%. Don't get your little feelings hurt and instead pay attention where the money is going. Blowing $224M to prevent 12% of cases makes 0 sense.
You ever watch A Christmas Carol and think "hm, that Scrooge guy has a point!"
No, but I have PhD in stats and I can tell none of you know how to count
Better to decrease the surplus population
Yikes, you're one of those. I was more so talking about a more productive use of a quarter of a Billion dollars like building a state sponsored rehab/support program and investing into a community for lost people of this sort. But no, you're too illiterate to understand what's happening in front of you.
I get your point. It makes sense.
I downvoted you for being a condescending piece of shit, not because I think you're wrong. Just sayin'.
No yea I already said I obviously hurt snowflakes feelings, but thanks for confirming. Sticks and stones, you know? Maybe form an original and an actually useful/insightful thought next time though?
You keep talking about money vs reward. How many lives would need to be saved to make it worth it to you? How much is a human life worth to you?
That's the wrong question. The correct one would be - do these nets achieve the goal and purpose for which they were built - saving lives? Or will the really desperate people just climb down and jump from the nets? They're flat and solid, not angled at all or guarded to prevent standing or rolling off either. This project is poorly designed and thought out, overdue, overbilled, and over budget.
You were the one that made the comment. So i don't think it was the wrong question.
Complete waste of public funds.
Removing carbon monoxide from cooking gas lines in the UK caused a massive drop in suicides. Without an easy DIY suicide machine at home people literally stopped killing themselves.
... though in America they're probably just going to use a gun or fentanyl. Those are easy DIY suicide techniques too.
Did it really? I live in the US and have read that an inexpensive improvement to burners would lead to decreased indoor air pollution, but industry is against it. This other tidbit would make that resistance so much worse than it already is.
Yup, they used to use something called "town gas" which was made from coal refining. People would put their heads in the oven, turn on the gas, and wait. Quick painless death - just going to sleep. Learned it listening to the Meeting Strangers audiobook in a section about Coupling Theory.
Wow, it looks like that info is about 50 years old, making it even worse... It also looks like it says the folks looking to use that method may have sought out others, I wonder how we as a society have performed on that since that time. Also, I am generally poor at reading abstracts, apologies if I am getting this wrong.
Thanks for sharing!!
I actually agree that these founds could instead go to prevent suicide reason - mental health, social security, affordable housing.
We could do thay as well as putting prevention methods in place. You know attack a problem from all angles.
What idiots are downvoting this? The problem isn’t that the bridge is too high. It’s that the people who have suicided there in the past had no access to mental health care. You downvoters are not looking at the root of the problem. You really think all the suicidal people are just gonna magically cure themselves because they installed nets?
The money spent on not only the nets and installing them etc but also the lawmakers that wasted their time coming up with this idea and meeting about it etc etc is ALL a waste of public funds and could have been put to much better use towards the actual problem.
This is just Americans patting themselves on the back pretending they’re doing a good job 👏🏼
You know, the nets aren't a waste. Preventing the opportunity can help save the life.
Fuck sakes. This is why I said why don't you go prove it.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/23/barriers-and-safety-nets-at-suicide-hotspots-can-reduce-rates-by-90
Do you have any information that contradicts the effectiveness of barriers at suicide hotspots?
Or is it just your 'feelings'?
When the article says "Barriers and safety nets at suicide hotspots can reduce rates by 90%", does it mean at the hotspots or globally? Because if it happens somewhere else it feels like kicking the can down the road...
What sort of argument is this? Obviously if the net catches a fucking person then yeah good job nets. But the root of the problem isn’t people falling off the bridge on accident. It’s people with unaddressed mental health issues wanting to kill themselves. How about we address the mental health aspects instead of just making them jump off a different bridge or shoot themselves or any other of a million different ways to kill yourself. If I really wanna die a net on that specific bridge won’t stop me I’ll just find another way.
How about we do both?
Wouldn’t that be great! Unfortunately,I feel like the us will never get to the point of having any decent socialized healthcare. :(
Not with an attitude like that.
Why don't you go prove them wrong.
Are you suggesting that they jump off the bridge?
No, I am suggesting they go to San Francisco and protest the suicide nets. Maybe get a grassroots movement, and come to the attention of some group with an opposite viewpoint....
You know something as useless as their comment.
People will just drown instead, the net only stops people from going to that location.
People jump off high locations to avoid drowning...
Well excuse me Mr. I Know Everything, it’s not about ethics or reason. A way to die is a opportunity for the person to do it. Just like they have the choice to jump.
To put it in other words, people are usually looking for an easy way out when they commit suicide, like jumping off a bridge. Or using a gun. Very few suicides with drowning, cause it's a horrible way to go.
It's dystopian as hell, but taking away the easy ways to kill oneself does help prevent suicides.
No it doesn’t stop, before such things were invented, people did try to drown. Cartoons jokes about downing characters to escape their bad life was a thing. Jumping off cliffs to the sea was/is a thing.
Stopping people on the easy path to death just leads to alternative forms or a lot more dangerous situations that the person would suffer before they could finally die.
Suicide is often a spur-of-the-moment impulse. Therefore opportunity plays a huge role. Remove the opportunity and a lot of people won't go through with it. This has been studied extensively.
True because they’ll just kill themselves another way. 2000 in almost 100 years isn’t anywhere near the other ways.
This has actually been studied pretty extensively and because suicide is often about opportunity, most people won't simply do it another way. I know it's counterintuitive, but it's what the data shows.