Citation

Lester D, Glembocki E. Suicide Stud. 2021; 2(2): 5-6.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, David Lester)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Suicides from the Skyway Bridge in Florida are analysed for the period 1957-2014. Men were more likely to jump from this bridge, but no more likely to die from the jump or be saved from jumping. Women suicides were more likely to leave a suicide note. There is the possibility that the publicity given to suicides, both in the Florida press (newspapers and online) and the documentation of the suicides by the Skyway Bridge authorities may contribute to the growing use of the bridge for suicide.

Suicide by jumping from bridges is common, with the most famous venue being the Golden Gate Bridge in California (Yeh & Lester, 2010), but many bridges that are less well- known have suicides, such as the Delaware Memorial Bridge that links New Jersey and Delaware (Lester, 2003) which has an average of 2,6 suicides each year (range 0-9). The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning Tampa Bay in Florida is unique in that an independent group documents the suicides from the bridge (www.skywaybridge.com). The main span of the bridge is 4.1 miles and the height at the peak is 431 feet. The bridge was completed and opened to traffic on April 20th, 1987.

Crisis hotline telephones were installed on the bridge in July 1999, and Stack (2015) found that the number of suicides rose by 4.5 per year after the installation compared to the years before, while the suicide rate in Florida declined. Although 26 potential suicides were saved in the ten years after the telephones were installed, Stack suggested that barriers were probably better at preventing suicides than telephones.

Language: en