Two pedestrian fatalities over the Family Day long weekend had Calgary city councillors questioning road safety funding and traffic conflict tracking in the city.

Both Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule and Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson asked questions around traffic and pedestrian safety during Question Period at the Feb. 17 Public Hearing Meeting of Council.

Over the weekend, a two-year-old was killed after the stroller it was in was hit while in a marked crosswalk in southwest Calgary. On Monday, a man in his 70s was also killed in a marked crosswalk after a tractor-trailer backed into him in the northwest community of Panorama Hills.

“In November, we passed significant increases around traffic safety,” said Coun. Yule.

“Council is still grappling with the significant reduction in fine revenue and enforcement rules by the province, but during that budget deliberation, we requested you, Mayor, to write Minister (Devin) Dreeshen to work with us on restoring some enforcement and the revenue back to us earmarked for traffic safety investments.”

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that he’d sent a letter last week (included below) to Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen outlining concerns about the drop in fine revenue that could be put towards traffic safety, along with policy decisions that have impacted safety.

“Calgary city council calls on the Government of Alberta to restore the municipal share of traffic fine revenue and review the decision to reduce photo radar enforcement based on safety outcomes,” he wrote, and also shared in the council meeting.

“Any restored revenue will be earmarked for traffic safety improvements, including safer intersections, crosswalk upgrades, school zone protections and traffic calming measures.”

Minister Dreeshen said the province has no plans to expand photo radar beyond the current framework. He said a meeting is being scheduled with Mayor Farkas to discuss safer streets through infrastructure improvements.

“Our government established the $13 million Traffic Safety Fund, which municipalities can access to improve high-risk intersections through measures like better signage, signal timing, lighting, and road redesign,” read the emailed statement from Minister Dreeshen.

“We continue to support police led enforcement efforts and data-driven safety solutions, while ensuring traffic safety tools are focused on reducing dangerous behaviour. Improving safety requires coordination at every level of government, and Alberta remains committed to working with municipal and policing partners to help keep all road users safe.”

Potential data deficiency, says Coun. Atkinson

The province had approved the reintroduction of automated enforcement at two Calgary intersections late in 2025. Each one of those required a business case submitted to the province for review, showing traffic data.

Calgary police Chief Katie McLellan told LWC in the 2025 year-end interview that they’d submitted business cases for up to five more intersections. The province did not respond to a question on the success of those business cases.

Chief McLellan also said they were working on fully staffing a fourth traffic unit as soon as possible.

Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said he was concerned about the limited scope of data that was being used to examine pedestrian incidents in Calgary. He said the 15 pedestrians killed in 2025 and the three fatalities thus far are only part of the picture.

“There have also been 56 pedestrian strikes that we know of, and this is the ones that are not reported in the news in the same way,” he said.  

“Meanwhile, what my office is starting to find out is that we actually don’t have sufficient data about pedestrian strikes on our streets. Our internal data only accounts for pedestrian strikes, strikes that result in a traffic interruption for cars. It’s not the full picture.”

The City of Calgary said that they track pedestrian collisions with data from Calgary Police Service reports, which include all incidents reported to and attended by police.

“This data is not based on whether traffic was stopped or disrupted, but on whether the collision was reported,” read an emailed response from the City of Calgary.

“Because most pedestrian collisions involve injury, this approach captures the vast majority of serious incidents.”

They said they don’t track near-misses because they are difficult to detect and verify.

“While some specialized software can analyze video for potential conflicts, it typically requires stored footage and dedicated systems,” the City of Calgary said.

“Most traffic camera footage is not retained long term, and live video analysis technology remains limited, particularly for reliably identifying pedestrian activity.”

The City said it relies on multiple data sources, including collision history, pedestrian counts and vehicle counts to identify trends and prioritize locations for safety improvements.