Application of sensor network system to prevent suicide from the bridge

Abstract

Recently suicides have been on the rise and become social issues around the world. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has been no exception. Hence, to detect and respond early, Seoul Metropolitan Government has installed the suicide corresponding sensor system at two locations of Han-River bridges where suicide occurs frequently. This study analyzed the pilot system’s performance of past 1 year and presented the following results. First, rescued people who attempted to suicide have increased in relation of the sensor system and it’s determined to be verified based on early discovery, and prompt action of rescue operation. Second, after a pilot test for 1 year, surveillance cameras installed at blind spots have contributed to improve the effectiveness of the security system. Finally, as a result of the analyzing the death leap types, there are three following types of people who attempted to suicide: (1) a form of falling directly from the bridge rail, (2) a form of sitting on the bridge rail and jumping away, (3) a form of standing outside of the bridge rail and jumping away. Based on these results, it was implied that the proactive measures such as utilizing sensors are very effective in suicide prevention and they can be expanded to prevention of death leap in other places such as high-rise buildings.