Committee mulls options to improve road safety as traffic collisions, fatalities rise

Edmonton is looking at ways to make streets safer, including the reintroduction of some photo radar cameras. CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg reports.

An Edmonton city council committee is mulling two options for its traffic safety strategy after a report delivered Tuesday highlighted a sharp rise in risky driver behaviour leading to more fatalities and serious injuries.

The members of the urban planning committee heard from city staff about significant rises in such crashes and in the amount of speeding by drivers. One option is to maintain the current budget level and use targeted improvements at high-risk spots at a cost of $74 million.

The other would cover a comprehensive city-wide safety strategy and would cost twice as much.

Ideas to bolster safety floated to the committee include creating no-vehicle roads around schools during peak pick-up and drop-off times, infrastructure improvements and ways to crack down on drivers who shortcut through neighbourhoods.

The Safe Mobility Strategy 2027-30 report to the committee says driver behaviour is a key factor in the recent rise of severe collisions at intersections where speed limits are higher.

The report found that since the province removed some automated enforcement at intersections last year, the number of fatal and serious collisions at them increased by 83 per cent and that the number of vehicles travelling more than 20 kilometres per hour over the speed limit rose by 134 per cent.

Councillors say the province’s prohibition of photo radar is a major road block as money from automatic enforcement could help pay for the safety strategy.

“The taxpayer is getting double-dinged because of bad behaviour and bad judgment on the part of the provincial government,” Michael Janz, councillor for the southside Ward papastew, told media at city hall.

Mayor Andrew Knack said Monday he wants the province to reconsider its decision to restrict intersection cameras to red-light enforcement only, ban photo radar on all provincial highways and connectors, and limit photo radar speed enforcement to school, playground and construction zones. The changes took effect in April last year.

A spokesperson for the transportation ministry told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday that the province has no plans to expand photo radar beyond the current framework.

They also say the city of Edmonton has applied for some photo radar exemptions, which will be reviewed as soon as possible.

At least three members of the urban planning committee – Janz, Ashley Salvador and Keren Tang – say they would like to see the second option given priority when city council goes into budget talks later this year.

“The number of injuries and fatalities that we’ve seen on our roadways in the last few years is just unacceptable,” said Salvador, who represents east Edmonton’s Ward Métis. “Everyone deserves to get around safely. We need to be resourcing this work to the level that’s going to achieve the outcomes that Edmontonians expect.”

The committee asked city administration to prepare reports on the two options for the strategy for when council discusses the 2027-30 budget cycle.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg