Police work at the scene of a collision involving a pedestrian at 23rd Avenue and Barlow Trail S.E. in Calgary on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Brent Calver/Postmedia

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Road safety advocates in Alberta are calling on the province’s chief medical examiner to investigate whether pickup trucks and large SUVs pose a disproportionate risk of death to pedestrians and cyclists involved in collisions.

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Multiple Alberta organizations penned an open letter Wednesday to Dr. Akmal Coetzee-Khan, Alberta’s Chief Medical Examiner, calling for a review under the Fatalities Inquiries Act of road crashes involving pickup trucks and large SUVs. The letter’s signatories, which include Bike Calgary and Youth en Route, are part of the Coalition to Reduce Auto Size Hazards (C.R.A.S.H.), a national effort seeking to reduce hazards tied to increasingly large vehicles.

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“The proliferation of pickup trucks and large SUVs . . . constitutes a real and preventable danger on our roads to the lives of pedestrians, cyclists, and persons with disabilities,” the letter states.

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“The Chief Medical Examiner is well-positioned to provide the public with an expert assessment of the evidence, and appropriate recommendations for action.”

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Bike Calgary president Doug Clark said the objective is to determine whether larger vehicles pose an increased safety risk to Alberta road users and, if they do, what measures could reduce those risks.

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“There may be a significant risk to pedestrians and cyclists from pickup trucks and SUVs, which are getting larger every year,” Clark said. “We need proper analysis of what’s happening in Alberta so we can make the right decisions based on good data.”

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Dr. Akmal Coetzee-Khan, Chief Medical Examiner, takes part in a press conference in Edmonton on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. David Bloom/Postmedia

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Groups involved with the coalition would like to see the federal government require vehicle front ends be designed in ways that reduce the likelihood of death when pickups and large SUVs strike pedestrians or cyclists.

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They also propose requiring safety warnings about any risks posed by large vehicles to accompany advertising, similar to warnings required for cigarettes.

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And at the provincial level, advocates propose the government introduce driver’s licence requirements for people operating pickups and large SUVs, as well as a sliding scale for vehicle registration fees based on the danger a vehicle poses to pedestrians and cyclists.

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Bike Calgary president Doug Clark was photographed on the 12th Avenue cycle track on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Brent Calver/Postmedia

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The push comes amid heightened concern about road safety in Calgary, after 15 pedestrians were killed on the city’s roads in 2025, a 225 per cent increase from the previous year.

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In February, a two-year-old child was killed after being struck by a Jeep while being pushed in a stroller by their parents in a marked crosswalk.

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The Jeep involved in the collision appeared to have been modified to sit higher off the ground than the original factory height.

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The incident underscores the need to examine how the size and height of vehicles can contribute to the severity of crashes involving vulnerable road users, according to Clark.

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“If (vehicle size) was a contributing factor to that death, then we need to understand . . . how can we make it safer?” Clark said.

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Police tape hangs on a crosswalk sign on Horton Road in Calgary on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, where a fatal collision claimed the life of a toddler in a stroller the night prior. Brent Calver/Postmedia

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Advocates point to growing research emerging from the United States about the risks associated with larger vehicles, which they say underscores the need to examine whether similar trends are happening in Canada, where the issue has not been studied as closely.