There were very few repeat offenders among the 9,825 red light running tickets issued by Manteca Police in 2025.

As such, it is a clue to the effectiveness of the camera systems deployed at six intersections in Manteca.

“We’re finding repeat offenders are rare,” Police Chief Stephen Schluer said.

It also underlines the primary goal behind the city rolling out the red light cameras 10 months ago. Simply put, it is to make the need for such technology superfluous by getting more drivers to pay attention and obey the law.

And in doing so, it typically reduces intersection collisions that account for 20 percent of the 1,000 plus accidents that occur in a typical year on Manteca’s streets.

Similar red light camera technology that Manteca and Tracy use along with a growing number of California cities is also on the way to Lathrop and Modesto.

Modesto, that years ago used an earlier form of red light camera technology that proved to be problematic, is going with systems that meets extremely rigid State of California requirements.

In addition, police departments such as Manteca adhere to state standards to determine what tickets are ultimately issued.

That requires they be reviewed by those that meet state training requirements, either a police officer or a community service officer (CSO).

In Manteca’s case, the reviews of potential red light runners are forwarded to the department.

American Traffic System — the firm that installed the cameras — forwards radar and video files of those they believe meet the criteria to be ticketed.

They are then reviewed again by a CSO assigned to the traffic unit and/or a patrol officer restricted to light office duty due to an injury and such.

A number, for a variety of reasons, are often deemed as not meeting the threshold the courts and law have established for a red light ticket to be issue.

Schluer noted there were concerns too many right turns on red lights were being issued.

To address, that the threshold the department uses has been made more liberal than parameters than the “letters of law” outlined in the California Vehicle Code.

Schluer noted the process still follows the spirit of the law.

It’s just like what officers in the field would do when applying traffic laws.