Halifax sees major jump in road deaths in 2025

Nova ScotiaNew data shows road safety in Halifax is trending in the wrong direction, with 2025 already being the deadliest in the region in recent years. More than 20 people died on Halifax roads this year as of AugustHaley Ryan · CBC News · Posted: Oct 23, 2025 7:16 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesA roadside memorial where Alexandria Wortman, a 21-year-old student, was killed by a driver at Jubilee Road and Vernon Street in Halifax in January 2025. Wortman is one of more than 20 people killed on Halifax roads so far this year. (Gareth Hampshire/CBC)New data shows road safety in Halifax is trending in the wrong direction, with 2025 already being the deadliest in the region in recent years.Municipal staff brought the annual road safety report to the city’s transportation committee on Thursday.Sam Trask, Halifax’s supervisor of road safety and transportation, said more than 20 people died this year as of August. That is a major jump from six fatal collisions last year, and 11 in 2023.“The numbers we’ve reviewed today represent real lives and communities impacted by tragedy, reminding us why road safety must remain a top priority,” Trask said during the meeting.Aggressive driving a factor in half of deaths: staffTrask said after reviewing the police reports, it appears half of this year’s fatal collisions may have involved aggressive driving. The data covers both municipal and provincial roads.Coun. Patty Cuttell said she often hears of these cases from residents, and has seen a driver pass on a double line, nearly running cars off the road.“The aggressive driving — it’s terrifying to pedestrians and other road users,” Cuttell said.Supt. Greg Robertson of the Halifax Regional Police said their members do their best with enforcement, but they are issuing about half the number of traffic tickets now compared to a decade ago. He said they issued about 21,000 tickets in 2016, and 11,000 last year.Robertson said their traffic unit is down about three officers right now as HRP continues to deal with staffing issues.Collisions involving vulnerable road users have also risen.There were 179 collisions involving pedestrians last year, 168 in 2023 and 172 in 2022. There were 89 collisions with micromobility users like people on bicycles or scooters last year, 64 in 2023, and 73 in 2022.Halifax has a goal to see the rate of fatal and serious collisions decreasing, hitting zero by 2038.Fatal, serious collision rate risingBut it has risen over the past few years, hitting 30.4 collisions per 100,000 people last year, up from 28 in 2023 and 25.8 in 2022.“It is now a four-year trend line going in the wrong direction for where we want it to be,” said committee chair Coun. Sam Austin.“What are the barriers … that you have? Because clearly what we’re doing, despite good intentions, despite best efforts, is not working.”The report showed in 2022, Halifax’s collision rates were lower than other Canadian cities like Montreal and Edmonton, but higher than Ottawa.Roddy MacIntyre, director of traffic and parking management, said staff do already use data to figure out where the hot spots of collisions are, but it is a long manual process. They will soon bring in new software that creates a heat map of collisions, including severity and type, to help prioritize where safety improvements should go.“This will kind of bring it to the next level and be a big help,” he said.The new provincial Traffic Safety Act will allow municipalities to bring in photo radar and red light cameras to help with enforcement, but MacIntyre said he does not yet know a timeline for when that could happen in Halifax. He said the province is working through the regulations, and the legislation has not been proclaimed yet.Staff said a new public education campaign is also being planned. MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORHaley Ryan is the municipal affairs reporter for CBC covering mainland Nova Scotia. Got a story idea? Send an email to haley.ryan@cbc.ca, or reach out on Twitter @hkryan17.