On Tuesday night, a young father was killed while waiting for the bus. His girlfriend and their infant son are in the hospital, the 10-month old with life-threatening injuries. A 46-year old man was also hospitalized. They were struck by a racing motorcyclist that hopped the curb. This driver’s actions tore apart a family. 

Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones as they face this unimaginable tragedy. 

Transit riders deserve to stay safe on all parts of their journey. While we never want to have to advocate in the aftermath of loss of life, this story has touched many of us on the board and emboldened us in our work. 

Traffic deaths are preventable with proactive street design and enforcement action, but reckless driving is being enabled by policy choices. In 2024, the Alberta government restricted Intersection Safety Devices (ISDs) to red-light enforcement only. This means that speeding drivers, like this motorcyclist and the driver he was racing, no longer have the same financial incentive to slow down and think about what they are doing before they speed through areas recklessly. 

Last year, a woman was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit by a speeding driver on the same stretch of road. Under the provincial guidelines, municipalities may submit business case exemption requests to the ISD restriction in cases where a site exhibits a high frequency and severity of collisions. The city submitted 8 requests in November 2025. The province has not yet granted the requests.

Street racing and reckless driving endanger everyone on our roads, particularly transit riders vulnerable on sidewalks and at bus stops. We call on the Alberta government to immediately grant the City’s request for automated speed enforcement and immediately allow funding from the Traffic Safety Fund to install infrastructural protections, such as traffic calming measures, bollards, and physical barriers, wherever pedestrians and transit riders are at risk.