Effect of barriers on the Clifton suspension bridge, England, on local patterns of suicide: implications for prevention
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Summary: We assessed the effect of the installation of barriers on the Clifton suspension bridge, Bristol, England, in 1998 on local suicides by jumping. Deaths from this bridge halved from 8.2 per year (1994–1998) to 4.0 per year (1999–2003; P=0.008). Although 90% of the suicides from the bridge were by males, there was no evidence of an increase in male suicide by jumping from other sites in the Bristol area after the erection of the barriers. This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of barriers on bridges in preventing site-specific suicides and suicides by jumping overall in the surrounding area.
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The construction of barriers and fencing at high-risk jumping sites, especially bridges, can lead to a reduction in the number of suicides by this method.
“A range of studies have demonstrated that the construction of barriers and fencing at high-risk jumping sites, especially bridges, can lead to a reduction in the number of suicides by this method (Beautrais 2001;Bennewith 2007;Pelletier 2007;Pirkis 2013;Pirkis 2015).”
From Means restriction for the prevention of suicide by jumping (2020) · cites this paper as Bennewith 2007
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Cites
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Self-citationEffectiveness of Barriers at Suicide Jumping Sites: A Case Study
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- [14]14. email: D.J.Gunnell email: D.J.Gunnell@ @Bristol.ac.uk Bristol.ac.uk (First received 6 June 2006, final revision 6 November 2006, accepted 14 November 2006) (First received 6 June 2006, final revision 6 November 2006, accepted 14 November 2006) https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.027136 Published online by Cambridge University Press
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Means restriction for suicide prevention
Yip, P. S., Caine, E., Yousuf, S., Chang, S.-S., Wu, K. C.-C., & Chen, Y.-Y. (2012) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60521-2 · Cited by 551 · see citing works
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Pirkis, J., Spittal, M. J., Cox, G., Robinson, J., Cheung, Y. T. D., & Studdert, D. (2013) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyt021 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
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Self-citationRemoving bridge barriers stimulates suicides: an unfortunate natural experiment
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Effect of a barrier at Bloor Street Viaduct on suicide rates in Toronto: natural experiment
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Means restriction for the prevention of suicide by jumping
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Analysis of the cost effectiveness of a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge
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Installation of a bridge barrier as a suicide prevention strategy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Hemmer, A., Meier, P., & Reisch, T. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169625 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Effect of restricting access to a suicide jumping site
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Preventing suicide at suicide hotspots: a case study from Australia
Lockley, A., Cheung, Y. T. D., Cox, G., Robinson, J., Williamson, M., Harris, M., Machlin, A., Moffat, C., & Pirkis, J. (2014) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/sltb.12080 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bennewith, O., Nowers, M., & Gunnell, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gunnell, David
- ORCID
- Gunnell, David
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2007-03
- Volume
- 190
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 266-267
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2143247304
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 9.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- World Health Organization
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- suicide prevention, bridge barriers, Clifton Suspension Bridge, male suicide, suicide hotspots
- MeSH terms
- Suicide Prevention, England, Environment Design, Female, Humans, Male, Protective Devices, Suicide
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