Calgary fire, police raise alarm as excessive speeding, street racing incidents spike

Calgary police say street racing and excessive speeding are growing concerns in the city, and they don't have all the tools to properly fight them.

Calgary police say street racing incidents and crashes caused by excessive speeding are a growing concern in the city and officers don’t have all the proper enforcement tools to keep streets safe.

It comes just months after new provincial rules for photo radar went into effect, limiting where the technology can be used.

Officers also say calls for street racing have increased across the city.

“A lot of the street racing that I’ve seen has been in specific locations. They’ll meet up and they’ll race each other on roads that may not be used as much by the general public. It now has spilled onto (main roads) like Stoney Trail,” said Sgt. Sean Sherman with the Traffic Response Unit.

According to statistics from police, there have been 112 incidents of street racing in Calgary so far this year, 20 per cent of which took place on Stoney Trail.

The service recorded 96 street racing incidents in all of 2024.

“A lot of these people overestimate their skill level and we’ve seen people at high speeds have a collision. And at those higher speeds, the impact is so much greater that it causes serious injury or death,” Sherman said.

Fatal collisions

Calgary has seen 23 fatal collisions on its roads so far in 2025 and speed is being investigated as a probable factor in seven of those deadly crashes.

“It’s having a significant impact. And it’s not only a danger to the people doing the street racing, it’s a danger to the people that are commuting on that roadway,” said Jamie Blayney with the Calgary Firefighters Association.

“We’re often first on scene at those incidents and it takes its toll on any first responder responding to these high-impact, high-mechanism accidents.”

Without increased photo radar, Sherman says, enforcement of speeding and street racing is resource-intensive.

“What I would like to see is if people are street racing, that there is something within the Traffic Safety Act that would allow us to seize those vehicles for a certain amount of time and have them be compelled to go to court, which they already are at certain speeds, but at least they’re not going to be able to use that vehicle and continue their speeding,” he said.