<P> The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98% . As of July 2013, only 34 people are known to have survived the jump . Those who do survive strike the water feet - first and at a slight angle, although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries . One young woman, Sarah Rutledge Birnbaum, survived, but returned to jump again and died the second time . One young man survived a jump in 1979, swam to shore, and drove himself to a hospital . The impact cracked several of his vertebrae . </P> <P> Engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko, as part of her "Bureau of Inverse Technology" art collective, created a "Despondency Index" by correlating the Dow Jones Industrial Average with the number of jumpers detected by "Suicide Boxes" containing motion - detecting cameras, which she claimed to have set up under the bridge . The boxes purportedly recorded 17 jumps in three months, far greater than the official count . The Whitney Museum, although questioning whether Jeremijenko's suicide - detection technology actually existed, nevertheless included her project in its prestigious Whitney Biennial . </P> <P> The first known intentional death from the Golden Gate Bridge occurred when the bridge was just a little over three months past its opening . In August 1937, 47 - year - old World War I veteran Harold Wobber was employed as a bargeman and took a bus to the bridge . After he got off the bus, Wobber started down the pedestrian walkway of the 1.6 - mile span . On the way, he started talking to a college professor from Connecticut, on vacation in the San Francisco area . During the stroll, Wobber took off his coat and vest, threw them to the man, and declared, "This is where I get off . I'm going to jump ." The vacationing professor grabbed the man's belt, but Wobber was able to get free and jumped over the four foot high rail to his death in the San Francisco Bay . After his death, newspapers reported Wobber was "a victim of shell shock" who had been undergoing mental health treatment . </P> <P> Until 1993, the youngest death off the bridge was 5 - year old Marilyn DeMont, in 1945 . With the child standing on a girder just outside the bridge's railing, her father, 37 - year - old elevator installation foreman August DeMont, commanded her to jump . August DeMont followed by diving "gracefully" after her . A simple note was found in the DeMont car stating, "I and my daughter have committed suicide ." </P>

Survivor of jumping off the golden gate bridge