Two pedestrian road collisions in Halifax cause outcry from activists

The number of pedestrians hit by vehicles has stayed equal to pre-pandemic numbers

Two recent road collisions in Halifax resulted in pedestrians taken to hospital with serious injuries. Activists say these crashes are too common. “One of the more disturbing things is that it’s always the same kind of locations, and it’s disproportionately people with disabilities, children and seniors,” said Martyn Williams, a longtime advocate for road safety in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

On July 6, a 14-year-old was hit by a vehicle while crossing Herring Cove Road near Melwood Avenue. The teen was taken to hospital in an ambulance with what police said were serious injuries. Two days later, a 72-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle while she crossed in a marked intersection on Quinpool Road at Quingate Place.

The woman was brought to the hospital with serious injuries, and the driver was given a ticket, according to Halifax Regional Police. Both investigations are ongoing. “Are we exchanging quicker journey time for people’s health?” said Williams.

“Often the injuries are serious, like the two this week.” The infrastructure in the region isn’t safe enough, especially for vulnerable road users, said Williams. There aren’t enough flashing crosswalk lights near bus stops or school zones, and the flashing is too subtle where there are crosswalks, he said.

This could be changed with red flashing lights positioned lower rather than high yellow ones. Also, Williams said drivers are too hasty to turn left, without looking to see if pedestrians are crossing. This could be solved with systems that allow pedestrians to cross before a left-hand turn is allowed.

“It’s really the municipality’s job to develop a plan that could look at some of these low- to mid-cost changes and see where they’re most needed,” said Williams. Other advocates have similar sentiments. “Harm prevention is critical, action is needed now,” advocacy group Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax wrote in a statement Thursday.

Vision Zero is comprised of residents and industry professionals who advocate for safer roads. “We call on councillors to propose the development of a comprehensive vulnerable road user action safety plan to address this longstanding crisis,” the statement said. “This plan should identify key causes of harm and how to address them using Vision Zero methodology and a systemic approach to road safety.”

Zero deaths by 2038 Related How bad are Halifax construction sites for pedestrian access and blowing garbage? Construction complaints: Industry has 'serious concerns' with Halifax about consultation The name Vision Zero refers to the municipality’s goal to “achieve zero fatalities and serious injuries for all road users in the HRM by 2038,” as stated on the HRM website. But there are doubts from advocates that the province can reach this goal without serious changes.

The recent annual totals of collisions involving a pedestrian are equal to annual totals from pre-pandemic years, with 2025 and 2019 seeing 169 collisions involving a pedestrian. “(The municipality) says they’re committed to safe systems, but they have no real path towards achieving that,” said Williams. “It’s been a very big backward step from where we started.”

Kathryn Morse, an HRM councillor and chair of the transportation standing committee, said council understands the concerns around road safety. “This is something that everybody on council is really concerned about,” said Morse. “We’re trying to work it through every year and expand what we do.”

Morse said there were issues surrounding data collection between the Halifax Regional Police and the HRM that have recently been solved, which should help. She said council and staff work with evidence-based information to make decisions around infrastructure and which roads are the priority. “Unfortunately, we can’t make all the changes that are needed all at once,” said Morse.

“So, we do it in stages based on the trends that we’re seeing with collisions.” Halifax has worked to implement tools to aid with safer road use, including adding 137 flashing lights at crosswalks, giving 108 crosswalks a head start for pedestrians and making over 400 “traffic-calming installations,” which include speed humps, raised intersections and narrower lanes, since 2018. For the 2026-27 budget, there was also an additional $960,000 allocated toward road safety .

“So, there is a lot that we’re doing. Could we do more? Yes.

Do we need to do more? Absolutely,” said Morse. A change in driving culture While Morse agrees more infrastructure upgrades are needed, she also said driving culture in the city is an issue.

“We do have to make infrastructure improvements, for sure, but we have a culture of driving that is getting worse in the HRM,” said Morse. “There was a time when the drivers were really polite and we’re now moved into driving that is more aggressive and more reckless; people are running yellow and red lights all the time.” Nova Scotia does not have provincial legislation in place to issue tickets based on driving through red lights.

The municipality cannot make any changes to ticketed enforcement through cameras without the provincial government first making changes to the law. New Brunswick gave municipalities the option to implement speed cameras and red-light cameras in 2024. Meanwhile, Ontario has had regulations in place for red-light cameras since 2000.

Morse said the investment in red-light cameras and speed cameras would be worth it. “We need better enforcement than we’re seeing now,” said Morse. “Most other provinces in Canada have this type of enforcement that’s automatic ticketing through cameras.

It’s very effective and it could make a huge difference here.”