CHARLOTTE — Should red light cameras return to Charlotte? That’s the question city leaders are debating after a 20-year hiatus.
At Monday’s safety committee meeting, the Charlotte Department of Transportation led the discussion to bring back red light cameras for the first time in two decades.
Channel 9’s Erika Jackson learned it’s just one step in a larger safety initiative to address an issue in Uptown and beyond. But if the city brings back its camera program, it could cost you $50 if you run a red light.
“Our streets are built for speed,” said Charlotte City Councilman J.D. Mazuera Arias of District 5. “We used to be a smaller town where that was acceptable, but as we are a fast-growing city, and we’re becoming more dense, and we have more people walking in our neighborhoods.”
Mazuera Arias represents east Charlotte, and he says red light cameras would be helpful there, where the city saw the most traffic fatalities in 2025.
CDOT says the “safe light” red light camera program was in effect from 1998 to 2006. During that time, the department sayas crashes at an angle, like a T-bone crash, decreased by 37% at all safe light intersections, but rear-end crashes increased by 4%.
“These are things we’re seeing a lot of in east Charlotte, a lot of traffic fatalities because of red light passes,” Mazuera Arias said.
The push to reinstate red-light cameras got new attention in the days after a runner’s death in NoDa. Police say Lance Sotelo was killed by a driver running a red light on The Plaza.
According to North Carolina’s Vision Zero safety dashboard, more than 3,000 intersection-related crashes between 2019 and October 2025 in Mecklenburg County were linked to disregarded traffic signals.
Charlotte has more than 1,000 signaled intersections. Not all of them would need cameras.
CDOT says the red light program would cost about $600,000 per year for ten intersections.
Councilmember Ed Driggs of District 7 says he’d like to see other options.
“I’d be interested to see data on exactly what improvement in safety would we expect to get on a given investment,” Drigg said. “Not to put a price tag on injuries and human life, but I’d ask myself, could we use that money in other ways for safety and save more lives than this?”
Mazuera Arias mentioned lowering speed limits in addition to adding red light cameras in problem areas.
If the program does go into effect, North Carolina law would require 90% of the proceeds from citations to go to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
(VIDEO: Morganton teen faces several charges after running red light, crashing into patrol car)
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