Red light camera tickets in North Carolina are no longer being issued anywhere in the state. Wilmington was the last city running a program, and its vendor contract expired on June 30, 2025. If you still have an outstanding ticket from when the cameras were active, it was a $50 civil penalty with no license points, no insurance reporting, and no DMV consequences. At least one major city has already thrown out every unpaid citation from its program.
Every Program in the State Has Shut Down
Cities including Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, High Point, and Wilmington all ran camera programs at various points. One by one, they ended them. Fayetteville let its vendor contract expire. Raleigh ended its SafeLight program in early 2024, stopped accepting payments on March 1, 2024, and discarded every outstanding unpaid citation.1Raleighnc.gov. SafeLight Red Light Camera Program Wilmington held out the longest, but its city council chose not to renew the vendor contract when it expired in mid-2025. The physical cameras stayed up through the summer but stopped issuing citations.
So if you’re wondering whether a new ticket can arrive in your mailbox today, it can’t. The question that remains for many drivers is what to do about a fine that was issued while the programs still ran.
What the Ticket Actually Was
A red light camera ticket in North Carolina was never a criminal citation. State law classified these violations as noncriminal and set the fine at a flat $50.2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 160A-300.1 – Use of Traffic Control Photographic Systems Points did not go on your driver’s license. The violation was not reported to your insurance company. Both protections were written directly into the statute.
The citation was issued to the registered owner of the vehicle rather than to whoever was driving, treating the violation as attached to the car itself. Only the specific municipalities named in the statute were ever authorized to adopt these programs.
If You Have an Old Unpaid Ticket
The practical enforcement tools available to cities were always modest. Under the statute, an unpaid $50 fine could rise to a maximum of $100 if it wasn’t paid within 30 days. A city could establish its own procedure for collecting the debt, which in practice sometimes meant sending it to a collection agency.
What a city could not do matters more. An unpaid red light camera ticket was never reported to the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. No city could block your vehicle registration renewal or suspend your driver’s license over one of these fines. The statute simply didn’t grant that authority.2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 160A-300.1 – Use of Traffic Control Photographic Systems
Raleigh set the clearest precedent by discarding all outstanding unpaid citations when it wound down SafeLight.1Raleighnc.gov. SafeLight Red Light Camera Program Whether Wilmington or any other city has formally written off its remaining unpaid tickets is worth confirming directly with that city’s finance or code enforcement office. With every program now defunct and vendor contracts expired, the infrastructure for pursuing old fines has largely disappeared.
Defenses the Law Provided
If you are actively contesting a citation you received when the programs were still running, the statute gave the registered owner two specific ways to avoid responsibility. Both required a signed affidavit submitted to the city within 30 days of receiving the notice:2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 160A-300.1 – Use of Traffic Control Photographic Systems
- An affidavit naming the person or company that had care, custody, and control of the vehicle at the time of the violation.
- An affidavit stating the vehicle was stolen, supported by a police report or insurance documentation.
The law also gave the owner an automatic defense on timing. If the city mailed the notice more than 90 days after the date of the violation, the registered owner was not responsible.2North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 160A-300.1 – Use of Traffic Control Photographic Systems
Those were the only defenses written into the statute governing camera tickets. You may see other sources list situations like funeral processions, yielding to emergency vehicles, or following an officer’s direction. Those can justify entering an intersection on red under the general traffic signal law,3North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 20-158 – Vehicle Control Signs and Signals but they were not listed as defenses in the camera-ticket statute itself. Whether a hearing officer would have accepted them was a separate question.
School Zone Speed Cameras Are a Separate Issue
Red light enforcement by camera is finished, but automated traffic technology in the state isn’t. In 2025, the General Assembly authorized cities and counties to use automated cameras and speed sensors in school zones. That program operates under a different legal framework than the old red light cameras, and local governments have to pass their own ordinances to use it. The fines, penalties, and defenses under that authority are still taking shape.
If your concern is an old red light camera ticket, the era that produced those citations is over. For an unpaid $50 fine from a camera that no longer exists, the realistic consequences are minimal, and contacting the issuing city directly is the simplest way to confirm whether the debt has been written off.