Preventable. Predictable. Unacceptable. Time for action on road safety, not budget reduction
Road Safety in the HRM is a moral imperative - we need more investment, not cuts
Over 30 residents of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) have been killed or seriously injured on our roads since the current Council was elected in October 2024, based on publicly reported cases.
Lives cut short, many more lives changed immeasurably.
If 30+ residents had been killed or seriously injured in a single plane crash, ferry disaster, or bus collision, there would be emergency meetings, independent investigations, and immediate systemic reform. There would be no debate about affordability. There would be no suggestion that safety upgrades were optional. There would be decisive action, especially if we knew exactly how to prevent it from happening again.
But when deaths or serious injuries happen one by one - in our crosswalks, on our arterial roads, and on our rural highways - they are treated as isolated “accidents.” We offer condolences. We wring our hands. And then we move on.
An 81-year-old woman struck in a marked crosswalk and left with life threatening injuries is not a budget line item.
A 3-year-old child killed by an over-sized vehicle in a suburban residential neighbourhood should result in action, not apathy.
This normalization of preventable road violence must end.
Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax is a coalition of residents, families, health professionals, advocates, and community leaders united by a clear vision: no loss of life is acceptable on our roads. We believe that 30+ lives ended or forever changed in under half a Council term is not background noise - it is an urgent call to action.
Every councillor, regardless of district, has a duty to ensure that residents can move safely through their community, whether on foot, by wheelchair, by bicycle or by car.
Council cannot - and must not - reduce funding for road safety. Cutting investments in traffic calming, enforcement, safe street design, transit reliability, sidewalk clearing, or active transportation sends a dangerous signal that fiscal optics matter more than human life.
The costs of inaction are staggering:
- Economic costs: Healthcare, emergency response, rehabilitation, lost productivity, litigation, insurance impacts, and infrastructure damage
- Social costs: Families permanently altered, children growing up without parents, seniors losing independence
- Moral costs: A city that quietly accepts preventable death as the price of convenience and car-centric planning
Councillors have direct authority over:
- Road and intersection design and traffic calming
- Sidewalks and protected bike infrastructure
- Transit funding and service levels
- Enforcement advocacy and deployment
- Snow clearing standards for sidewalks and bus stops
- Capital investments that determine how streets function
These are not abstract policy levers. They determine who lives and who dies.
Council has taken important steps in recent years, including adopting the Integrated Mobility Plan (2017), the 2018 Road Safety Framework and the 2024 Road Safety Strategy, implementing some 40 km/h zones on residential streets, and investing in active transportation infrastructure. Those actions matter and we are grateful for them.
But they have not yet been implemented at the scale or speed required to reverse rising fatalities and injuries. This is particularly the case among vulnerable road users, who comprise 22% of injury and fatal crash victims, with seniors overwhelmingly making up most pedestrian fatalities.
This is not an urban versus rural issue. Fatal crashes have occurred across the municipality - from the urban core to suburban corridors to rural highways. Every district has felt loss.
This is not about drivers versus people using other modes of transport. It is about whether we accept preventable deaths as the cost of convenience or a flat tax rate.
We know what works - the evidence is clear:
- Lower speeds dramatically increase survival rates
- Protected infrastructure reduces fatal and serious injuries
- Enforcement changes behaviour
- Street and intersection design determines safety outcomes
- Reliable transit reduces congestion and overall collision exposure
All are proven interventions used successfully in cities around the world.
The tools exist. The evidence exists. What’s lacking is political will and leadership.
We call on Council to:
- Maintain and increase funding for road safety in the 2026–27 budget to develop a detailed Vision Zero plan of action, co-developed with experts, consultants and local groups representing road users.
- Adopt absolute targets to reduce serious injury and fatal crashes, with a Goal (not just a “Vision”) of achieving zero road fatalities by 2035.
- Expand protected pedestrian and cycling infrastructure in every district
- Advocate aggressively for expanded automated speed enforcement with the Province
If Halifax is serious about Vision Zero – where no loss of life is acceptable on our roads - then funding must be maintained and expanded, not cut. The urgency must match the loss of lives and societal costs they incur.
Invest boldly. Act decisively. Save lives. We are ready and able to support you.
Because every district deserves safety. And everyone deserves to get home alive.
Media release date: March 2, 2026
