Culture
With Youth Suicides Up, the Golden Gate Bridge Implements Crisis Texting
The number of suicidal youth coming to the bridge has increased five-fold in recent years.
More than 1,700 people have committed suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in the 1930s. While the grim tide hasn’t much changed, the demographics have, with more and more young folks arriving to snuff their lives.
“Since 2000, the number of troubled young people under 25 years old showing up at the Bridge considering suicide has increased more than five-fold,” says Bridge District spokeswoman Priya Clemens in an emailed press release. So authorities are trying a new way to reach distressed youths: texting.