Red light cameras returning to Charlotte intersections, but not all are the most dangerous
Red light cameras will be returning to some Charlotte intersections. But they won’t all be at the most dangerous ones.
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If you look at the 10 roadway segments with the most people killed or seriously injured on Charlotte’s High Injury Network, a map used to track crashes, you’ll find some discrepancy.
But this is intentional. It’s because city planners have a different strategy in mind: Experts with the Charlotte Department of Transportation want to put cameras in areas with certain kinds of collisions.
The cameras will go at intersections with a high number of crashes involving left turns or cars being T-boned, which are called “angle collisions.” The cameras are particularly effective in reducing these types of collisions.
The City Council voted June 22 to revamp Charlotte’s red light camera program.
In Charlotte’s previous program, which ran from 1998 to 2006, angle crashes decreased by 37% across intersections with a red light camera, according to city data. Successful red light camera programs in other cities prioritized the same kinds of crashes that Charlotte wants to, according to city officials.
Angle collisions tend to be more violent and injury-inducing, said Charlie Jones, the deputy director of the transportation department.
“What we really want to stress to people is that this is purely about motorist and resident safety,” Jones told The Charlotte Observer.
The 10 proposed intersections for red light installation are:
Two of these intersections are among Charlotte’s 10 most dangerous areas: North Tryon Street and University City Boulevard, and Central Avenue and North Sharon Amity Road.
But the city might change the list. Jones said officials based it on data from 2019 to 2023 and once they get newer data, it will inform their final intersection selections.
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The current proposed list of 10 intersections came after officials initially looked at 39 intersections with a high number of injuries and deaths, then narrowed down the possibilities.
Of the proposed locations, five scored among the city’s highest for number of left-turn and angle collisions: North Tryon Street and University City Boulevard; Central Avenue and North Sharon Amity Rd; North Graham Street and Norris Avenue; East W.T. Harris Boulevard and North Tryon Street; and South Tryon Street and West Arrowood Road.
City officials also considered streets with high percentages of angle or left-turn crashes. For example, the intersection of South Mint Street and West Boulevard only had 10 left-turn and angle crashes, compared to other intersections with triple that amount, but more than one third of its total crashes were angle or left-turn, making it one of the highest-scoring intersections by percentage.
Officials also factored in a higher number of serious injuries or fatalities due to these crash types, and a high number of pedestrian or bike collisions to create their preliminary list.
Jones said some dangerous intersections didn’t make the initial list of 10 because they recently underwent some type of engineering to reduce crashes: “We may have corrected any problem,” he said.
“A lot of what Charlotte Department of Transportation does is engineering improvements. A lot of these intersections have all those improvements, and yet we still continue to see red light running, collisions and fatal crashes,” Jones said.
With the cameras, city officials want to improve driver behavior, he added.
The city plans to start the program in 2027 with a final intersection list.
Drivers caught running a red light will face a $75 civil penalty. Those who fail to pay the fine could be charged an additional $100.
“We really want to use this to increase the safety of everybody in the city, so folks can get home to their families, friends and do the things that they need to do,” Jones said.
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Observer investigative data reporter Caitlin McGlade contributed.
This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
