The Swedish Transport Administration assessed the need for guardrails on the Sundsvalls bridge as “small” when it began to be built in 2011.
The calculation was a risk of 0.4 jumps per year. With the facts in hand, it turns out to be a grave error assessment.
According to the rescue service in Sundsvall, there have been ten suicide incidents per year on the Sundsvallsbron. There are 100 people in ten years.
The figure includes both completed and unfinished attempts. The bridge was inaugurated in December 2014.
The Swedish Transport Administration’s assessment was that the figure would be four people in ten years.
No suicide cases with protection barrier
SVT has taken part in a document from the Swedish Transport Administration with the heading “Suicid Prevention Sundsvallsbron”. It shows how the authority reasoned when the bridge was to be built.
Since higher railings were set up on the bridge last year, no Suidic cases have been reported according to the rescue service.
Stick in conflict with the research
Research in both Sweden and other countries shows that suicide decreases sharply at the bridges where protection barriers are set up. Including Alnöbron and Angeredsbron in Gothenburg.
Nevertheless, the assessment was made that “safeguard measures are not necessary” at the Sundsvall Bridge. Something that is explicitly stated in the document from 2015 that SVT took part in.
– Today, a different assessment would have been made, says current project manager John Löfgren at the Swedish Transport Administration.
When the Sundsvall Bridge was built, there was no official claim for suicide protection. It does now. The requirement today is that bridges that are 14 meters and higher should have it. Sundsvallsbron has a sail -free height of 33 meters.
The video shows what is in the old documents from the Swedish Transport Administration and how they reasoned then. But there were those who wanted the railings right away.