Barrier at Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct significantly reduced suicides:study
TORONTO — A new study suggests a barrier erected on a Toronto overpass that was once the second-most frequented bridge for suicides in North America is serving its purpose.
The study from Sunnybrook Hospital, published in the journal BMJ Open on Tuesday, compares the 11-year periods before and after the barrier went up on the city’s Bloor Street Viaduct.
Researchers say an average of nine people a year had been dying by jumping from the bridge before 2003, placing it behind only San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge for suicides-by-jumping.
Since the barrier was put in place, however, the study found only one person has died by suicide at the site, a 485-metre overpass that spans a multi-lane highway, ravine and another major roadway.