Wilmington City Council poised to end red light camera program

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington City Council is poised to end its red-light camera program. 

The program known as SafeLight snaps a picture of a driver’s license plate when they run a red light, sending a ticket in the mail.   

The contract for the program is up for renewal in June of next year, but council could move to let the contract expire.  The city spends nearly $250,000 on the program each year.  

One study out of Virginia suggests that while the cameras marginally reduce T-bone collisions, they actually increase the number of rear-end collisions. Another study published in the Scientific American found no link between the implementation of red light cameras and reduced collisions. 

Councilman David Joyner has joined other council members in opposition to the program. Under the new proposal, the cameras would remain in place for crash investigations but would no longer send drivers tickets in the mail.  

“I think the cameras serve two important functions. Number one is police being able to conduct investigations and follow traffic through the city, which currently they don’t have the ability to do in real time but under the new plan they would,” Joyner said. “And number two, it’s important for people who are involved in a traffic collision to be able to have access to that footage. If they need to file an insurance claim, if they want to press charges, or pursue a lawsuit, they’re going to want to have that footage too.”  

The tickets that come in the mail also don’t come from the city or the police department. They come from a third-party company known as Verra Mobility, making it difficult for the city to enforce the violations. This is compounded by the fact that the cameras only capture the rear of the vehicle, and not the driver. That distinction has brought into question the legal authority of enforcing such fines.  

“We’re trying to stop people from getting these frivolous tickets from a third-party corporation, while also maintaining traffic safety and police department capability in Wilmington, and I think we’ve struck a happy median on that,” Joyner said. 

If the city does choose to end the safe light program, it would be the last city in the state to do so.