Road safety report shows increase in deaths this year in Halifax

CITYnews halifax / By Chris Halef

New data on road safety in Halifax shows 2025 is the deadliest in recent years.

The city’s annual road safety report says that as of August, more than 20 people have died this year, a jump from six fatal collisions last year and 11 in 2023.

This staff note in the report is a “undesirable trend.”

“This upward trend demonstrates a need to increase organization-wide commitment to prioritizing road safety…to address the challenges of a growing city and increased demands on drivers’ attention,” it states.

Even with the worry, the report does showcase that some areas of road safety have shown “encouraging progress.” There was a reduction in fatal and serious injury pedestrian collisions and a decrease in collisions at intersections.

Supervisor of road safety and transportation, Sam Trask, said it appears half of this year’s fatal collisions may have involved aggressive driving.

According to the report, there was also a rise in collisions involving pedestrians with 179 last year, 168 in 2023 and 172 in 2022.

Meantime, HRP Superindentent Greg Robertson said police continue to deal with staffing issues, adding they issued about half the number of traffic tickets last year as in 2016.

(Halifax Regional Municipality)