Here in Toronto it was popular to jump off the bloor bridge
In June 1997, then President of East York Chapter Al Birney made a motion at our Annual General Meeting to take action against bridge suicides, citing the rising deaths at Toronto's Bloor St. Viaduct. Members of local chapters had lost three sons and one daughter at the bridge. The motion was unanimously adopted by chapter presidents, and Birney was invited to form the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario Bridge Committee. For three years, the Bridge Committee, led by Birney as Chairman and Michael McCamus as Spokesperson, has held meetings with 58 City Councillors and given numerous presentations at City Hall and in the community to advocate a suicide prevention fence. On average, one person jumps from the bridge every 22 days.
Research at similar "suicide magnets," including the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, and Washington's Duke Ellington Bridge, demonstrates that deterrent barriers prevent impulsive jumps, save lives, and protect bystanders travelling underneath the monuments. In July 1998, the Regional Coroner of Toronto, Dr. William Lucas, and the jury of the inquest into the death of choirboy Kenneth Au-Yeung recommended a barrier fence for the Bloor Viaduct. In July and October 1998, City Council twice unanimously approved "The Luminous Veil," the winning entry to the City's 1998 National Design Competition for safe, artistic, and heritage-sensitive barriers.
However, the building of the barrier was complicated by the need to maintain annual safety inspections of the bridge's second, lower deck on which run the subway trains. Construction was postponed many months, during which the price of labour and materials nearly doubled, and new conditions were added to the building contract. The Veil proposes a five-metre tall safety screen of 10,000 thin stainless steel rods, and in December, the barrier won Canadian Architect magazine's 1999 Award of Excellence. In February 2000, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman successfully urged City Councillors to reaffirm their support for the winning barrier design, and to commit $2.5 Million to its construction.
On January 16, 2001, a 24-year-old University of Toronto student walked to Bloor Street's Prince Edward Viaduct, and leapt to his death. Since 1919, the landmark bridge has attracted over 400 suicides, a world record second only to Golden Gate Bridge.
On January 18, the Bloor Viaduct Project Steering Committee's chair Ellis Kirkland announced a $3.5 million sponsorship plan to complete the long-delayed $6 million Luminous Veil, an award- winning barrier design. A year earlier, city council had threatened to cancel the Veil, after it exceeded its $2.5-million budget. Mayor Mel Lastman brokered a compromise, giving volunteers one year to "raise the balance of funds."
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or people jump in front of the moving subway.... :/ I'm afraid of hieghts and don't want to splatter on a subway so I think I will just get old
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