Yesterday morning, I stood at the corner of Broad and Rutledge with my seven-month-old daughter in her stroller, waiting for the light to change so we could head home. The light turned red. The walk sign lit up.
I started to cross.
Then came the roar of an engine that luckily made me pause. A Camry shot through the intersection—seconds after the walk signal lit up.
This kind of moment has become uncomfortably common in Charleston. At intersections across the city, red lights are treated as suggestions. Drivers speed up at yellows, and they fly through reds without hesitation or consequence. Just this week, I watched a Charleston Livability Officer—someone tasked with making this city safer—blow through a red light across Rutledge on Calhoun, just down the street from Ashley Hall, and where so many of its students walk to school each morning.
Charleston is one of the most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians. This isn’t just a talking point. According to the 2024 Dangerous by Design report by Smart Growth America, the Charleston–North Charleston metro area ranks as the ninth deadliest in the nation. The data is clear—and the lived experience confirms it. While many of our city’s challenges are complex and require long-term infrastructure investments, this one isn’t. This one actually has a fix.
It’s solvable because we already know what works. In many other states, red light cameras have curbed this exact behavior. But in 2011, South Carolina’s General Assembly outlawed their use, citing concerns about privacy and personal freedom. Fourteen years later, we’re left with the consequences: a generation of drivers emboldened by the knowledge that no one is watching.
And it shows.
The unfortunate truth is that when people know there’s no enforcement, many will ignore the rules. This is not an abstract policy debate—it’s a public safety crisis. And unless our leaders take it seriously, someone will be killed. Let’s hope it’s not a child.
We need our state lawmakers to revisit this ban, stop hiding behind slogans about “freedom,” and ask themselves: what about the freedom to cross the street without fearing for your life? What about the freedom to trust that a walk signal means what it says?
Charleston’s local leaders, including Mayor William Cogswell and City Council, should be pushing for action at the State House. And if the General Assembly won’t act? Then I believe the city should explore every legal option to implement enforcement anyway—whether that’s through cameras or some other mechanism. Public safety has to come first.
Of course, this isn’t only about enforcement. We could also invest in better driver education, especially around pedestrian rights. It’s astonishing how many drivers still don’t understand that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way.
And yes, there’s a practical bonus to all this: revenue. Cities similar in size to Charleston—like Savannah or Wilmington—have generated millions through red light fines. Most of those tickets go to out-of-town drivers. Those dollars could help fund police, pay for street improvements, or expand traffic-calming measures. If fairness is a concern, consider a system that grants first-time forgiveness for local residents when no harm was done.
Charleston has rightly prioritized big-picture issues like flooding, infrastructure, and livability. But public safety is the foundation of livability. And no family—no pedestrian, no stroller-pusher, no student—should have to play chicken with two tons of steel just to cross the street.
We’ve ignored this problem for too long. It’s time to fix it—before it’s too late.
