Calgary city council calls for road safety following recent pedestrian deaths

Calgary is on track to set a record for traffic fatalities in the first few months of 2026, leading city council to call on the province to return photo radar.

Over the Family Day long weekend, two Calgarians, a toddler and a senior, lost their lives in separate pedestrian-involved traffic collisions.

“This was an awful family day weekend for several families throughout Calgary, given the pedestrian fatalities that we saw,” Farkas told reporters Tuesday.

“It really shows that us — collectively as a city — need to take pedestrian safety seriously.”

In 2025, Calgary saw a 10-year high in traffic fatalities with a total of 38. Calgary has had seven traffic fatalities — three of them involving pedestrians — in the first seven weeks of 2026.

The Alberta government removed photo radar in April 2025; however, the Calgary Police Service (CPS) submitted requests to see it reinstated at multiple high-risk areas for serious-injury or fatal collisions, which the province approved.

Officials at various levels of government and law enforcement, including CPS leadership, have called for the new provincial policies to be scrapped. Residents have also expressed concern about the increase in speeding since the cameras were removed.

Meanwhile, members of city council said Tuesday that they reiterated their goal of “Vision Zero.”

“We have a vision of zero deaths on Calgary’s roads. I think that’s a vision that every Calgarian would share with us,” said Ward 4 councillor DJ Kelly.

Farkas says council wants that “number down to as low as humanly possible.”

“These are avoidable incidents, which makes it even more tragic and heartbreaking, so again our council is united in our advocacy, and we are looking to our provincial government to be a partner,” he said.

With multiple speed-related fatalities this year, Calgary’s mayor sent a letter to the province requesting the return of photo radar.

“If the fine revenue is being earmarked specifically for road safety improvements, it makes a lot more sense to me as a Calgarian,” he said.

“I think we can help build the case with the public that this isn’t just another cash-grab, that money is specifically unlocking the needed investments to make Calgary’s roads and streets safer for our kids.”

But in a statement to CityNews, Alberta’s transportation minister Devin Dreeshen said the provincial government has no plans to expand photo radar beyond the current framework.

“I am scheduling a meeting with Mayor Farkas in the coming weeks to discuss support for safer streets through targeted infrastructure,” the statement reads.

Photo radar deployment has been cut by 70 per cent in 2025. The Alberta government has referred to the technology as a “cash cow” and a source of revenue with “no traffic safety benefit.”

That removal has cost the Calgary police budget more than $28 million, which council voted to shore up from reserves last March.