The Encinitas City Council will discuss whether to bring red-light cameras back to city intersections at a scheduled council hearing on Sept. 9.
According to public comments from residents and councilmembers during public meetings on Aug. 26, the cameras will be a welcome tool to help calm traffic and slow drivers throughout busy intersections.
“So I will just say, as we’ve heard, our kids are being struck and killed in crosswalks.
This is unacceptable,” said Encinitas resident and founder of Safe Streets Encinitas, Lara Grimmer.
A state bill, Senate Bill 720, also known as the Safer Streets Program, has changed the way cities across California can implement red light cameras. Concerns over privacy and whether tickets were rightly issued through the use of photos caused many California cities, including Encinitas, to abandon red-light cameras. For Encinitas, that decision came in 2020 when the council voted to end its contract with the company that oversaw the cameras.
However, the new legislation changed those issues. Signed into law in October 2025, the Safer Streets Act allows cities to install the cameras at their discretion. It also changes red light infractions from moving violations to civil infractions similar to parking tickets. In addition, fines for first-time offenders start at $100 and violations no longer are based on photos of the drivers; they will be sent to the vehicle’s registered owner.
Encinitas’s push for red light cameras, and a list of additional proposed safety measures, comes following the deaths of three teens who were hit and killed while walking or biking in the city over the past three years.
The deaths and the numerous reports of drivers zipping through town and running stop signs and red lights have prompted residents to call on the city to do more.
The city is listening. Mayor Bruce Ehlers announced the city council is expected to take the first step in bringing red-light cameras back to Encinitas.
“You recognize the enormous responsibility you’re carrying right now, and we’re encouraged the council will be discussing red-light cameras on September 9th,” Grimmer said during public comment at the Aug. 26 meeting.
Traffic commissioners also appear to be on board.
Patricia Trauth, chair of Encinitas’s Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission, noted “The liability is now on the vehicle owner, and it is similar to a parking violation. The fines have been reduced, and you don’t have points on your license and whatnot. And then the way this is tracked is by taking a photo of the license plate.”
Red light cameras may not be the only cameras surveilling city drivers. At both the Aug. 26 transportation committee meeting and the city council meeting, members also discussed the possibility of bringing speed cameras to the city as well in an effort to slow down drivers.
Speed cameras, based on a pilot program outlined in another bill, Assembly Bill 645, operate on the same premise as the new approach to red-light cameras, with violations linked to license plates captured in images.
