r/northcounty • u/funkcatbrown • Sep 17 '26
CBS 8 Encinitas is moving toward Red-Light Cameras again. Here’s why I strongly oppose it. Now is the time to pay attention if you oppose Red-Light Cameras.
Encinitas City Council just voted 4-1 to move forward with developing a new pilot red-light-camera program under SB 720.
This does NOT mean cameras have been approved for installation yet.
At the September 16 Council meeting, Item 12B asked Council to consider the Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission recommendation and give staff direction regarding a new pilot red-light-camera policy, including analysis of potential locations. So the city council voted and advances a pilot program for red-light cameras
The official staff recommendation was to “review, discuss, and provide direction to staff regarding a new policy for redlight-camera detection per SB 720.”
Official September 16 agenda, including the Item 12B packet and public comments:
https://encinitas.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?event_id=5402&view_id=2
CBS 8 covered the Council decision here:
I strongly oppose bringing red-light cameras back to Encinitas.
One of the main forces behind this push is Safe Streets Encinitas. Their own website identifies red-light cameras as their top short-term priority and explicitly explains why: 12-year-old Emery Chalekian was tragically killed by a driver who ran a red light.
I have genuine compassion for Emery’s family. Losing a child is horrific.
But I am also going to say something that apparently not enough people are willing to say:
**Grief is not public policy.**
A terrible tragedy does not automatically establish that the policy demanded afterward is the correct policy for an entire city.
Safe Streets Encinitas has every right to organize, advocate, pressure City Council and push whatever transportation agenda it believes in.
**I have every right to strongly oppose that agenda.**
And I do.
What bothers me is watching an emotionally powerful tragedy become the justification for imposing automated enforcement on everybody who drives through Encinitas before the City has demonstrated that it is actually the best solution.
Because here is something that deserves a hell of a lot more attention:
**Encinitas already had red-light cameras.**
One of the detailed analyses submitted into the official September 16 public-comment record examined California crash data at the two former Encinitas camera intersections and compared periods with and without the cameras.
According to that analysis, after the cameras were removed:
• Overall crashes decreased **54%**
• Rear-end crashes decreased **77%**
• Broadside crashes decreased **26%**
• Total injuries decreased **45%**
• Average injury severity also decreased
The analysis also reported **zero fatalities at those two intersections during the full 15-year period examined**, and only one severe injury, which occurred while the traffic signals were not operating.
Those figures came from a public commenter’s analysis of state crash records. They are not findings formally adopted by the City.
Fine.
**Then the City should independently analyze the damn data before putting cameras back.**
That is exactly my point.
If cameras were so obviously beneficial at those intersections, why did crashes and injuries not explode after they were removed?
Why did overall crashes, rear-end crashes, broadside crashes and injuries instead decline in that analysis?
Show us.
Don’t just tell us cameras “save lives.”
Don’t tell us someone might run a red light and someone might get hurt. Of course that can happen.
There is risk every time any of us gets on a road.
The existence of risk does not automatically justify every enforcement technology proposed to reduce it.
If Encinitas has a serious red-light-running problem, **prove it with Encinitas data.**
I personally have not seen very many red light runners in Encinitas hardly ever. Maybe once a year I observe one person do it usually on a yellow light that went red before they got through. So,…
Show us which intersections supposedly need cameras.
Show us current violation rates.
Show us actual red-light-related crash histories.
Show us traffic volumes.
Show us injury severity.
Show us rear-end crashes.
Show us what happened before, during and after the previous camera program.
Show us comparable intersections that never had cameras.
Show us whether signal timing, visibility, intersection design, conventional enforcement or other measures would address the problem better.
Show us what the program will cost.
**Then make the case.**
What I reject is this logic:
**A child died.
Red-light running is dangerous.
Therefore Encinitas needs red-light cameras.**
No.
Those are three different propositions.
The first two do not prove the third.
And the public-comment record shows just how lopsided the organized advocacy currently is.
I went through the September 16 Item 12B public-comment packet and removed the duplicate submissions.
By my count, there were **51 unique relevant comments** that actually took a position on the red-light-camera issue:
**44 supported cameras, a pilot, or moving the SB 720 process forward.**
**3 explicitly opposed it.**
**3 were skeptical or conditional without explicitly opposing it.**
**1 was neutral or unclear.**
That means the explicitly anti-camera position was represented by only **three comments out of 51**.
And yet several of the opposition and skeptical comments were among the longest and most data-heavy submissions in the entire packet.
Numbers of emails do not establish whether a policy is good.
They establish who is organized enough to write the emails.
Safe Streets Encinitas is organized, vocal and effective at getting sympathetic people involved. They claim 400+ supporters many whom submitted comments and have shown up to previous council meetings to push through their agenda.
That does **not** mean it speaks for everyone in Encinitas, or everyone who drives on Encinitas roads.
I do not want one highly organized advocacy organization, however sympathetic the tragedy behind its creation may be, to steamroll City Council into adopting its preferred transportation policies while everyone with concerns assumes somebody else will raise them.
These are public roads.
These are public tax dollars.
These are enforcement policies affecting tens of thousands of people who live, work, shop, visit or drive through Encinitas.
And this decision is **not finished**.
The September 16 agenda did not authorize installation of cameras.
It directed staff to continue examining a new pilot red-light camera program and identifying suitable locations.
The next stage is where this gets especially important because we should start seeing actual proposed intersections, actual collision and traffic data, costs, program structure and the City’s justification for installing cameras at particular locations.
**That is where the evidence needs to be challenged and scrutinized.**
If you oppose red-light cameras in Encinitas, now is the time to start paying attention to what comes next.
Watch the upcoming City Council agendas for the next red-light-camera item on the agenda.
The City posts its Council meetings, agendas, attachments and public comments here:
https://encinitas.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=7
When another red-light-camera item appears, submit a written comment.
You can email agenda-item comments to:
You can also attend the meeting and sign up to speak directly to Council.
And you can contact the Mayor and Councilmembers directly:
Mayor Bruce Ehlers:
behlers@encinitasca.gov
Councilmember Luke Shaffer:
lshaffer@encinitasca.gov
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara:
johara@encinitasca.gov
Councilmember Joy Lyndes:
jlyndes@encinitasca.gov
Councilmember Marco San Antonio:
msanantonio@encinitasca.gov
Entire City Council:
council@encinitasca.gov
Read the documents.
Look at the data.
Watch what staff proposes next.
Submit comments when this comes back before Council.
Speak at the meeting if you want to participate directly.
I intend to keep watching this very closely.
Safe Streets Encinitas is already making damn sure City Council hears its voice. The rest of the community that opposes RLCs should make damn sure its voice is heard too.