Encinitas City Council voted 4 to 1 to move forward on investigating a red light camera pilot program at major intersections. The city ran cameras for 16 years and discontinued the program in 2020, so this vote starts the work of deciding whether they come back.
Supporters told council the cameras are one of the few tools that enforce a red light when no deputy is there to do it. Three young people have been killed in pedestrian and cyclist collisions in Encinitas since 2023, including 12-year-old Emery Chalekian. Opponents raised privacy and civil liberties concerns and questioned whether cameras reduce collisions at all.
Mayor Bruce Ehlers pointed to the city’s own data from the old program, which showed red light running went down while rear-end collisions went up. Under Senate Bill 720, signed in October 2025, a new program would work differently from the old one: cameras photograph the rear license plate rather than the driver, violations are civil penalties closer to a parking ticket than a traffic ticket, and fines run from $100 to $500.
The cost, the number of cameras, and the intersections are all still undecided. Staff will bring those answers back to council.
Read the full story here: Encinitas council advances pilot program for red-light cameras, CBS 8
