Do Charlotteans want to bring back red light cameras?
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Red-light cameras haven’t been in Charlotte for a decade, but a new survey shows that Charlotteans might want them back.
Charlotte installed cameras at 20 intersections in 1998, issuing tickets automatically to people captured in photos passing through a red light. They issued nearly 50,000 citations, according to information presented to the city council.
They were removed in 2006 amid a dust-up on where ticket proceeds should go. State law dictated that at least 90 percent should go to the public school system, which the city government didn’t like. They didn’t think it was financially feasible.
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66% of Charlotteans surveyed said they supported automated ticketing for red-light violations in a new survey from Charlotte Department of Transportation.
And even greater percentages were in favor of other camera-based ticketing, like for passing a stopped school bus.
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Charlotte does not support as strongly automatic tickets for speeding, for some reason. But more than half of respondents were in favor of that, too.
I haven’t heard any rumblings of Charlotte bringing back red-light cameras, but perhaps the city is laying the groundwork.
The city discusses this off-and-on, though the last time I can find a record of it was 2013. The city of Raleigh continues to maintain its “SafeLight” program, and other cities like Fayetteville have recently re-introduced it.