The Grand Parade podcast: HRM still not learning its lessons about road safety

Last October, Halifax's Transportation Standing Committee had a lengthy discussion about road safety that, if recent history gives any indication, went rather poorly. It started with a presentation from the HRM's director of traffic management, Lucas Pitts.

Pitts told the committee that in 2022, Halifax's streets saw 11 fatal crashes and 776 more that resulted in an injury. That was good news—sort of—because it marked an 11.6% decline from the same benchmark in 2018-19. But it also left plenty of room for improvement. Especially considering Halifax's strategic safety plan draws inspiration from "Vision Zero," which advocates to "eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries" through the design of better streets for everyone. And while Halifax's road deaths and injuries were indeed tracking downward, the numbers for the most vulnerable road-users told a much different story.


At that October meeting, the committee waded into an especially enlightening conversation about speed humps. Councillor Trish Purdy wondered why the city builds them for traffic calming. Pitts told the committee "as apolitically as possible" that they were a waste of money. Research suggests there are better—and cheaper—ways to boost road safety, especially as the most dangerous part of a road is when it meets another one. But spending on speed humps is a hard habit to break for municipalities. (Road safety advocate Brian Patterson once called speed humps the "OxyContin" of local politicians: "Once they start giving these out, they keep coming back for more.")

The HRM council had a chance to show it took Pitts's words to heart when Brad Anguish, director of public works for Halifax, told council earlier this month that they could save $3 million by opting not to spend more money on speed humps. (Spoiler: They spent the money.)


In this week's episode of The Grand Parade, Coast reporter Matt Stickland tells fellow reporter Martin Bauman why he's disappointed with council these days. The two also talk about tent encampment evictions, a sidewalk that leads to nowhere and why there's a silver lining ahead for Halifax.