Edmonton looking to reinstate photo radar at several problem intersections

Edmonton has asked the province to approve an exemption to allow the use of photo radar at 10 locations. CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson has the story.

With Edmonton seeing the most traffic fatalities in nearly a decade, the city is looking to reinstate speed enforcement after the province banned photo radar in April.

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Jessica Lamarre, director of safe mobility with the city, said that Edmonton has seen an 87-per-cent increase in vehicles travelling 20 to 29 kilometres over the speed limit in 2025.

“While the city is no longer permitted to issue speeding violations through our intersection safety devices, we closely monitor the data,” said Lamarre in a statement. “The City of Edmonton is pursuing exemptions to the Government of Alberta’s automated traffic enforcement guideline to return speed-on-green enforcement to data-driven locations.”

Through the Alberta government’s speed-on-green enforcement, municipalities are required to submit a business case demonstrating one of three conditions: an intersection’s collision-to-vehicles ratio is at least double the median of five similar intersections; that the intersection sees at least 50 crashes per year; or provide evidence of traffic fatalities or serious injuries.

The city has been partnering with the University of Alberta to survey intersections that are seeing high numbers of crashes, including those resulting in serious injury or death.

Data has narrowed down 10 intersections that meet the criteria to be considered for the speed-on-green program to be assessed by the provincial government.

High collision locations that see 50 or more crashes a year:

97 Street and 167 Avenue

• 835 speed violations and an average of 62 high speed violations per year

91 Street and 34 Avenue

• 25 per cent increase in high speed violations between 2022 and 2024

Calgary Trail and 34 Avenue

• 8,037 speed violations and an average of 482 high speed violations per year

23 Avenue and 91 Street

• 1,169 speed violations and an average of 65 high speed violations per year

50 Street and 23 Avenue

• An eight-per-cent increase in high speed violations between 2022 and 2024

137 Avenue and 50 Street

• 728 speed violations and an average of 56 high speed violations per year

Fatality and major injury locations:

82 Avenue and 99 Street

• 883 speed violations and an average of 64 high speed violations per year

118 Avenue and Wayne Gretzky Drive

• 8,778 speed violations and an average of 138 high speed violations per year

23 Avenue and Parsons Road

• 2235 speed violations and 138 high speed violations per year

Mark Messier Trail and 156 Street

• Top 10 per cent of sites for number of speed violations and number of high speed violations in 2024

All speed violation data is based on an average number of violations per year between 2022 and 2024. High speed violations refer to those where vehicles were captured going more than 20km/h over the posted speed limit.

“Speed is a factor in every collision and was the direct cause of 57 per cent of traffic fatalities in 2023,” said Lamarre. “Support from the Government of Alberta on this approach will be an important aspect in combatting the concerning rise in speeding and serious crashes in our city.”

Should the proposed locations be approved, the city will announce where speed-on-green enforcement is reinstated.

Three intersections in Calgary have seen photo radar reinstated as the southern Alberta city also saw a 10-year high in fatal crashes.

Edmonton has seen 31 traffic deaths so far this year, including 11 pedestrian deaths.

A city report shows that overall traffic volume is up more than 30 per cent in the last five years with the total number of licensed drivers up more than 122,000 since the COVID-19 pandemic.