After two pedestrian deaths on the Family Day long weekend, Calgary city councillors are seeking measures to combat the rising number of fatal collisions on city streets.
And council members said Tuesday they are also awaiting word from the provincial government on the city’s previous request to restore photo radar enforcement — and to use proceeds from subsequent fine revenue to support traffic calming and safety measures.
The two deaths, less than 24 hours apart, involved a two-year-old child and a senior male. They were Calgary’s seventh and eighth fatal traffic collisions in 2026, as well as the second and third pedestrian fatalities of the year. Both were struck in marked crosswalks.
Coun. Andrew Yule, whose Ward 3 encompasses the 200 block of Panatella Hill N.W., where the man in his seventies was hit by a semi truck trailer in a grocery store parking lot on Monday, asked Mayor Jeromy Farkas if he has received a response to a letter he sent to Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen, asking to restore photo radar enforcement.
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Farkas said he met in person with Dreeshen shortly after the 2026 budget talks, and raised the issue of traffic safety and the reduction of fine revenue resulting from automated traffic enforcement restrictions.
He also said he sent a formal letter to Dreeshen’s office on Feb. 12, and was still awaiting a reply as of Tuesday morning.
Flowers are seen at a crosswalk on Horton Road S.W. in Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, where a collision claimed the life of a two-year-old in a stroller last Sunday.
‘Critical public safety crisis’: Calgary’s streets seeing more fatalities
Farkas’ letter to Dreeshen, which the mayor read aloud during the question period of council’s public hearing meeting on Tuesday, argues the Alberta government’s removal of photo radar on provincially controlled highways in April 2025 has “led to an upswing in speed-related collisions,” as well as a $28-million revenue shortfall for the Calgary Police Service.
Between 2024 and 2025, the Calgary Police Service reported more than 900 pedestrian crashes and an unprecedented 27 fatalities, “underscoring a critical public safety crisis,” Farkas’s letter states.
Fifteen of those fatal pedestrian collisions occurred last year — an 11-year high. If including motorists, 38 people were killed in vehicular collisions in 2025, according to the city, making it the deadliest year on Calgary’s streets in nearly two decades.
“It’s just a reminder that we’ve got a lot of work to do as council to make sure that pedestrian safety is top of mind,” Yule said, of the two latest fatalities. “One of the things that we did during our budget deliberations is add more (funding) to safety, traffic safety, and we want to make sure that we’re continuing with that.”
Road fatalities in Calgary
Council allocating funds to improve safety, calls for province’s help
During budget deliberations in early December, council unanimously approved an amendment to add $2 million in capital funding for 2026, to add two additional rectangular rapid flashing beacons in each ward. The beacon locations would be selected based on safety need and informed by community and area councillor input.
Council also voted 13-2 to allocate $7.55 million from the city’s fiscal stability reserve toward the city’s “Vision Zero” Improvements Investment Package. Vision Zero is the city’s campaign to address road safety, named for the goal of bringing the number of collision fatalities in Calgary down to zero.
The strategy aims to achieve a 25-per-cent reduction over the course of the city’s five-year mobility safety plan (2024-28) for all categories of major injuries and fatalities, according to a city web page.
The campaign focuses on traffic safety education but also re-engineering of streets and crosswalks, such as by adding speed cushions, curb extensions and overhead flashing pedestrian crossing lights, to improve safety.
Farkas’ letter calls on the UCP government to restore the municipal share of traffic fine revenue and review its decision to reduce photo radar enforcement.
“This is an issue that our city council is united on,” he told reporters. “We take extremely seriously pedestrian safety, but we cannot do it alone without collaboration with our provincial counterparts, so we’re urging the provincial government to restore the use of photo enforcement, as well as to not just use that fine revenue as a piggy-bank, but to dedicate the fine revenue specifically around traffic safety improvements.”