As serious vehicular collisions and pedestrian fatalities continue to mount across Calgary, one city councillor is calling on the city to spend millions more on traffic calming and safety measures.
Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt said he is bringing a notice of motion forward that would direct administration to allocate $6 million from the city's operating surplus to increase the number of rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs).
While the city's 2024-28 safer mobility plan aims for a 25 per cent year-over-year reduction in serious traffic incidents by 2028, Schmidt argued Calgary is moving in the opposite direction.
“We're seeing another year of potentially record-level incidents that result in injuries or fatalities,” he said Sunday. “I think Calgarians are feeling the pressure of traffic safety and any time we can do something to prevent deaths that are entirely preventable, we need to be able to act to do that.”
Calgary has already experienced more than 10 fatal collisions in 2026 and is on track to potentially surpass last year's record number of 38 deaths on the city's roads, including 15 pedestrians. In 2024, the city reported 29 fatal collisions, 13 of whom were pedestrians. At the time, it was Calgary's highest number of road fatalities since 2013.
“It's become urgent, and this is one way we can start to chip away at doing that and then with the budget coming up in November, that's going to be the next point where we can take action,” Schmidt said.
His notice of motion, which council's executive committee will consider on Tuesday, requests to allocate $6 million from the city's 2026 operating surplus to initiate a pilot project for strategic traffic safety improvements.
“We chose that number (because we're) trying to tie it to what we see as the net revenue from traffic enforcement tickets,” Schmidt said, adding the funding should be split evenly between Calgary's 14 wards.
The additional funding, according to Schmidt, could expand the number of RRFBs, marked crosswalks, speed cushions, crosswalk bump-outs and curb extensions across the city, and could support more education initiatives. He also wants the city to compile a report by this September outlining the costs, benefits and outcomes of redirecting revenue from parking enforcement to expanding the city's five-year safer mobility plan.
The growing number of collisions is a symptom of Calgary's growth, but also other factors, according to the first-time councillor. “We're seeing increased traffic and different changes in how people are using our streets,” Schmidt said. “The loss of photo radar is also a deterrent and means our ability to enforce at the street level has been diminished.”
