Suicides and Accidents
Two men were killed during the construction of the bridge. In 1885, a 22-year-old woman named Sarah Ann Henley survived a fall from the bridge when her billowing skirts acted as a parachute; she subsequently lived into her eighties.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is well known as a suicide bridge and is fitted with plaques that advertise the telephone number of The Samaritans. Between 1974 and 1993, 127 people fell to their deaths from the bridge. In 1998 barriers were installed on the bridge to prevent people jumping. In the four years after installation this reduced the suicide rate from eight deaths per year to four. Nicolette Powell, the wife of singer Georgie Fame, formerly the Marchioness of Londonderry, committed suicide from the bridge on 13 August 1993.
Although flying under the bridge has been outlawed since 1911, in 1957 a Filton-based RAF Vampire jet from 501 Squadron flew at high speed under the deck before crashing in Leigh Woods, killing the pilot. A police helicopter flew under the bridge during a search in 1997.
Read more about this topic: Clifton Suspension Bridge
Famous quotes containing the words suicides and/or accidents:
“Most suicides are committed with a knife and fork.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.
“We are the men of intrinsic value, who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government: we have heads to get money, and hearts to spend it.”
—George Farquhar (1678–1707)