Will Charlotte revive red light cameras? Traffic deaths continue rising
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Council revisits red light cameras as 2026 traffic deaths rise.
- Court ruling required Charlotte to give 90% of citation revenue to schools.
- City could use Vision Zero funds now or seek a legislative interlocal agreement.
The Charlotte City Council could resurrect Charlotte’s long-defunct red light camera program amid rising traffic fatalities.
Data shows red light cameras greatly reduce the number of serious crashes at high-risk intersections, but state laws have complicated their implementation in North Carolina.
Transportation staff presented two possible options during a safety committee meeting on Monday that left council members alternately hopeful and skeptical about the investment.
One option puts the city on the hook for the cost of the program, likely spending more than they could recoup at a loss.
State law requires cities like Charlotte to pay local school systems 90% of revenue generated from red light camera citations. That means for every $50 ticket, the city could only put $5 back into implementation costs.
The City Council could vote to revive the program more immediately under this option but would have to use money allocated to Vision Zero, which is the initiative striving to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. Much of the Vision Zero budget goes toward road safety improvements such as pedestrian crossing beacons and flashing stop signs.
Or, the city could take a more time-consuming and cost saving approach by asking the state legislature for help. North Carolina lawmakers could approve an interlocal program allowing the city to bill Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for the cost of implementing red light cameras, said Charlie Jones, deputy director of the Charlotte Department of Transportation.
Would red light cameras save lives? Here’s what the data shows
City leaders revisited the idea of red light cameras this year after the annual Vision Zero report, published in January, showed traffic fatalities continue to increase despite years of investment in Vision Zero.
Eighty-one people died on Charlotte streets during the 2025 fiscal year, up 9% from the year before, and 111 people were seriously injured, up 13%. Speeding was the single largest contributing factor to fatal and serious injury crashes last year.
Charlotte is on pace to once again surpass last year’s grim numbers, with 24 fatalities reported so far by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in 2026.
CDOT looked back at its suspended red light camera program to see how new cameras could help bring that number back down. There were some promising signs.
During the program’s run between 1998 and 2006, angle crashes decreased by 37% across the 24 intersections that had cameras, Jones said. Angle crashes occur when a car runs a red light and collides with another vehicle at an angle and present a higher risk of injury compared to rear-end collisions.
Cameras only monitored one direction of traffic at an intersection, though. When considering crashes at only the monitored lanes, data showed angle crashes decreased by 60%.
Rear-end crashes increased by 4%, meanwhile, but those crashes were less severe.
And nationally, a 2025 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found a 29% reduction in angle injury collisions at camera-equipped intersections.
“The theory is people have a heightened awareness of where those cameras are and they tend to drive more safely,” Jones said.
At-large councilwoman Dimple Ajmera and District 5 council member JD Mazuera Arias advocated for the red light camera program to return. They both live in east Charlotte, which suffered the greatest number of fatalities last year.
Ajmera said she wants the city to use Vision Zero funds to implement the program while it simultaneously works with the General Assembly on an interlocal program.
“Timing is critical because the longer we wait, we are going to see more lives lost to traffic fatalities,” Ajmera said.
The estimated cost of a red light camera is about $4,000 to $5,000 per month per location. Equipping 10 intersections with a camera would cost around $600,000 annually, Jones said.
Council members Ed Driggs and Kimberly Owens wondered if, given the cost for just 10 cameras, that money might be better spent on other safety initiatives.
“Not to put a price tag on injuries and human life, but I would ask myself, could we use that money in other ways for safety and save more lives than by this?” Driggs said.
Owens suggested the city could rely on “subterfuge” and “a touch of creativity” to cast a wider impact with the cameras despite financial constraints. She asked if the city could rotate cameras between different locations or place lookalike cameras that are not functional at some intersections to dissuade running red lights.
The city is required to display signs informing the public about the cameras. But the city can move the cameras between locations, Jones said.
“I’m not going to speak to the subterfuge,” he said.
Why did Charlotte get rid of red light cameras?
Charlotte discontinued its red light camera program in 2006 after courts ruled 90% of the profits must go to local public schools. The city had incorrectly believed it could pay schools after first covering implementation costs, Jones said.
The cameras cost about $2.1 million to operate in 2006 yet brought in only $2.8 million, according to an article published by UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute. The court’s ruling meant the program was actually losing money.
City Council took no immediate action on Monday. They plan to revisit the topic at a future meeting after staff further researches implementation costs and strategy.
This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 6:13 PM.
