Manteca Police issued 9,824 red light tickets in 2025

So far this year through Sept. 24, MPD has issued 13,367 red light tickets.

Given the current pace and the fact there are three months to go in 2026, the probability is high 17,700 tickets will be issued by year’s end.

The September running total through the 24th was at 1,311.

Red light cameras are at five intersections in Manteca.

And the high number of tickets are being issued even with the MPD being more liberal than state law on right turns on red lights in terms of the threshold they will issue tickets for a vehicle that does not first come to a stop to make a right turn on a red light.

The department has three police officers currently assigned to light duties due to injuries reviewing information on possible violations to make sure that tickets are only issued to those that clearly meet the state mandated standards needed to write a red light ticket.

The goal of the city’s red light program is to get compliance to vehicle code laws to reduce collisions.

The biggest factor in the more than 1,000 accidents in Manteca during 2024 was running red lights at intersections. Those crashes also tend to produce then most serious injuries and largest property losses in terms of dollar value.

Tracy also has the same red light camera system in place and Lathrop is adding it in a concerted effort to improve traffic safety by getting compliance to the law with tickets.

Tracy and Manteca were installed before Jan. 1, 2026. That means tickets for red light running in the two jurisdictions until existing contracts with American Traffic Systems are changed or expire are costing violators $490.

That’s because they are treated like a moving violation as if a police officer pulled over a violator.

The state law makes it a mandatory misdemeanor for red light cameras that are installed under contract after Jan. 1, 2026.

That is a $100 fine for the first offense with escalating fines for multiple offenses within a set time period. Unlike with a moving violation, the misdemeanor tickets don’t have the potential to impact insurance rates.

The $490 per ticket fine means the 13,267 tickets issued so far this year have an aggregate impact on the collective pocketbooks of violators of $6,549,830.

Assuming all are paid, roughly $1.3 million will go to Manteca as the state and court takes the rest of the amount.

And once the ATS contract cost is covered, it would leave the city with over $500,000.

That money can only be used to step up traffic enforcement or put traffic calming measures in place.

So even if all red light runners aren’t getting the message, they will be helping foot the bill for efforts to make Manteca streets safer.

Under the $100 misdemeanor fine, a city receives 100 percent of the ticket payment.

As such, the bottom line financially would be no different for Manteca once the ATS contract is covered.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com