Edmonton Vision goal within reach despite photo radar limitations

The City of Edmonton aims to achieve zero traffic fatalities in the next seven years, despite obstacles such as restrictions on the use of photo radar and the power of personal choice.

Since Edmonton adopted Vision Zero, an internationally recognized road safety strategy, in 2015, the number of road deaths and serious injuries has decreased.

City data shows traffic fatalities fell 56 percent between 2015 and 2022, while pedestrian fatalities fell 67 percent.

Subsequently, the number of people killed in accidents rose to 24 in 2023.

This year too, things look bleak: between January and July, 15 people died and the number is likely to rise, as winter is statistically the most dangerous period for pedestrians.

The rise in traffic fatalities comes as the city faces mounting financial pressures and the potential loss of millions more in road safety enforcement funding.

Still, advocates and officials are hopeful that Edmonton’s 2032 target remains realistic — if everyone participates.

“Does that make it seem like 2032 is harder to get to? Of course,” said Jessica Lamarre, director of safe mobility for the City of Edmonton. “I think it’s going to take more commitment than we’ve shown in the city.”

“I think it’s doable,” said Shannon Lohner, president of the advocacy group Paths for People. “But (the City Council) is going to have to prioritize investing in this.”

“They need to make this a huge priority to make this happen.”

‘A crisis’

In the year Edmonton implemented Vision Zero, 32 people died in accidents, including 12 pedestrians.

“The number of deaths and serious injuries in the city was higher than ever and a kind of crisis arose,” Lamarre said.

The Vision Zero strategy uses technology, education and enforcement to reduce or eliminate traffic hazards. The ultimate goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

“Will we ever get to a point where there’s never a collision? Of course not,” Lamarre said. “But we never want to see someone’s life tragically and irreversibly affected because they went to the grocery store.”

Median strips are one of the traffic calming measures the City of Edmonton uses to make traveling in the city safer. (City of Edmonton)
Among other things, Edmonton has lowered the default speed limit, upgraded more than 500 crosswalks (including the city’s first zebra crossings), and piloted traffic calming measures such as speed humps and curb extensions. These projects are known as “street labs.”

According to Lamarre, since the city lowered the default speed limit to 40 km/h two years ago, these roads have seen a 25 percent reduction in accidents and a 31 percent reduction in injuries and fatalities.

“When we told people that driving slower is safer, we meant it.”

‘Choices that people make’

Paths for People wants the city to further reduce the standard speed limit and invest more money in large-scale traffic calming measures.

The group also wants Edmonton’s Complete Streets Design and Construction Standards updated to ensure future city planning is done with Vision Zero in mind.

“It’s really hard to incentivize developers to actually build safe streets because they take up a lot more space,” Lohner said. “We’re kind of in a trap where we’re working with outdated standards that don’t fit the types of communities we want to build.”

Good traffic design can prevent a number of common mistakes, such as zebra crossings on streets with many vehicles and pedestrians.

“It’s just a lot for the driver to manage,” Lamarre said. “So in those situations … we should all only move when it’s safest to move, and that will reduce those conflicts.”

A zebra crossing is seen on Whyte Avenue at Gateway Boulevard on August 19, 2021. (CTV News Edmonton)Both Lohner and Lamarre pointed out that the city cannot plan everything.

“If people drive irresponsibly through the city, that is a major obstacle to Vision Zero,” Lohner said.

“A traffic engineer can’t control if someone decides to drive under the influence,” Lamarre said. “Or if someone decides to drive 90 mph … Those are choices that people make that have really tragic consequences.”

Photo radar restrictions

City data shows that 57 percent of fatal crashes last year were due to speeding, or more than 20 km/h above the speed limit.

“There are laws and regulations and some people follow them and some people don’t, and enforcement is one of the ways to address that problem,” Lamarre said.

Edmonton’s automated enforcement includes speed cameras and photo radar. All revenue from fines is used to fund traffic safety initiatives.

Lamarre said those tools have become increasingly limited after the province imposed a ban on new photo radar equipment and locations in 2019 and banned it from Anthony Henday Drive last December.

“As a result of those restrictions, millions in revenue have been lost,” Lamarre said.

Between 2015 and 2018, the city collected an average of about $46 million in automated enforcement fines. Last year, it brought in just over $29 million.

Further restrictions on automated enforcement are expected to be imposed in December, including a limitation of photo radar to construction, school and playground zones.

“What that means,” Lamarre said, “is that it’s not the people who are paying fines through enforcement because they broke the law, but the work of improving road safety that is being passed on (to tax revenues).”

One of the changes is that the city will no longer be allowed to issue fines for speed cameras.

The City of Edmonton’s 2023 Automated Traffic Enforcement Report found that the number of crashes at the intersection of Whitemud Drive and 111 Street dropped from an annual average of 12 to five after an automated enforcement camera was installed in 2018.

“These tools have proven their worth,” Lohner said. “But the city has effectively tied its hands.”

Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen says his office worked with municipalities and police over the summer to remove “fishing spots from photo radar.”

“The province wants to ensure that photo radar is used for road safety rather than for generating revenue,” said Dreeshen.

According to Dreeshen, the new approved locations are expected to be finalized by the end of this year, with an emphasis on “sensitive areas” such as schools, playgrounds and construction zones.

Culture shift

Road safety improvements aren’t helpful, Lamarre says, because they’re designed to slow you down.

“It’s understandable that people are annoyed by that to some extent,” she added. “When we first started implementing these (traffic calming measures), there was quite a bit of resistance to these things.

“But now, as more and more people have experienced them, the desire to have them in their own neighborhoods has grown.”

Lohner said “significant progress” has been made in Edmonton and she is pleased to see more neighbourhoods embracing these often inconvenient measures.

Curb extensions are a traffic calming measure that helps reduce the amount of time pedestrians and cars need to share the road. It is one of the traffic calming measures the City of Edmonton uses to make travel in the city safer. (City of Edmonton)
However, much work remains to be done to achieve the 2032 target, which she calls “quite ambitious”.

“We really need to move these conversations forward. We need to get more funding for these programs,” Lohner said.

“We have steps we can take. We have things we can do. We just really need to prioritize funding and actually getting the infrastructure in place.”

Lamare said despite financial pressures, the city has increased Safe Mobility’s budget for 2025 to $27 million.

Part of that money will be used to improve 250 zebra crossings before the end of 2026 and for on-street traffic safety tests in 14 neighborhoods this fall.

Work is also underway to update the design standards for streets, but she does not yet know when that is expected to be completed.