Bridge collapses occasionally happen and lead to serious casualties and property losses. As there are amounts of bridges in China, it is of great significance to analyze the primary causes of bridge collapse and explore the technical approaches to prevent collapse based on research progress in disaster prevention technology of bridges. The causes of bridge collapse were summarized and categorized according to both Chinese and international cases. The analysis indicates that issues like design flaws, irrational construction processes, and inadequate in-service maintenance may result in the bridge collapse, while such emergencies as ship impact, explosion, fire, earthquake, or natural disasters also seriously threaten the safety of bridges. The risk prevention and control approaches to bridge collapse were then discussed from the perspectives of damages to both the superstructure and the substructure. From the collapse cases involving damage to the superstructure, it is found that different types of bridges exhibit unique stress characteristics before collapse. Specifically, the collapse of girder bridges is often linked to the accumulation of localized structural damage due to overloading or environmental erosion; the collapse of arch bridges is typically associated with localized damage and the stability of the arch ring; suspension bridges are significantly affected by corrosion of the main cables and fatigue damage; fractures in tension cables or damage to the anchorage zones in cable-stayed bridges can lead to collapse. Additionally, damage to the substructure caused by foundation settlement, scour, or impact can easily give rise to either localized or total collapse of the bridge. Finally, based on the progress in bridge disaster prevention technologies, several technical measures were summarized for improving the anti-collapse performance of bridges, including damping systems, self-resetting swinging abutments, and limiting and anti-falling girder systems. These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of bridge collapse behavior and provide valuable insights for the design of anti-collapse bridge structures.