Two More Preventable Deaths in under one week

This has been another heartbreaking week for Halifax and this is a hard post to write. News broke yesterday, July 20, 2026, that a member of the Dalhousie community had suffered life-threatening injuries after a driver opened the door of a pickup truck into his path while he was cycling last Friday. The 71-year-old man later died from his injuries.

Police issued the driver a summary offence ticket, not for opening a door in front of the cyclist, but for not having a valid inspection sticker. The cyclist has been widely reported to be Dr. Nouman Ali, a professor, who dedicated his career to improving transportation engineering, and a kind, compassionate man by all accounts. A huge loss to our community.

Also yesterday, Halifax Regional Police reported that a 66-year-old man was killed on the Bedford Highway after his motorcycle appeared to be struck from behind by the driver of a car. The man has yet to be named and no other circumstances to the crash have been revealed at time of writing.

Our condolences go out to the families of both. Two families are grieving, two communities are mourning, and two more names have been added to a list that continues to grow in the HRM - the preventable deaths of people killed by an unsafe road system.

When these tragic incidents happen, the tendency is to focus on each individual case rather than look at the root causes. Was someone paying attention (or not)? Who made a mistake? What exactly happened in those final moments? However aviation safety and prevention of medical error best practices teach us to ask system level questions. Vision Zero asks - why do our streets continue to allow human mistakes to become fatal events?

We know what makes roads safer:

• Protected cycling infrastructure
• Streets adapted or designed to be safe for all users
• Lower speeds
• Better protection for vulnerable road users
• Targeted enforcement of dangerous driving behaviours

Vision Zero requires a commitment to achieve safety for all road users over other objectives, such as minimizing delay. Because we all know and agree that nothing is more important than arriving home alive, safe and well. Don't we?

Our Road Safety Strategy commits to Vision Zero and safe systems. To achieve that we need a comprehensive plan of action and a commitment by our leadership to achieve zero fatalities as a goal. Currently, we lack this key goal and adequate planning to achieve it.

Last year, debate over Halifax's bike network included calls to pause projects because of concerns about vehicle capacity and congestion. Meanwhile, people continue to be seriously injured and killed on our roads. That's a disconnect Vision Zero requires us to confront.

 Every road death and serious injury should be treated as a signal that our transportation system has failed. How many more people will die while we debate what action to take?

We need urgent action to make our streets safer for everyone. Join us to demand it. Use our template to write to your elected officials.