Red-light cameras are unlikely to be introduced in Tauranga because they are too expensive.
A camera trial in Auckland was successful in reducing the number of red-light runners but even though there is interest in Tauranga, the cost is too high.
Red-light cameras roughly cost $50,000 each to set up.
The Auckland trial resulted in a 43 per cent average reduction in red-light runners at lights were they were installed. Red-light crashes also dropped on average 69 per cent and rear-end crashes at red-light camera locations dropped an estimated 32 per cent.
Tauranga City Council transportation operations manager Martin Parkes said he would like to see red-light cameras installed to catch local light runners but the move was unlikely.
"We certainly want to have a look at their [trial] information. It would give us another tool to improve road safety at intersections because we know there are people who drive through red lights in Tauranga," Mr Parkes said.
"The bottom line is they are extremely expensive to buy and install.
"If we were any time in the future going to install one, we certainly need to pick our intersections very carefully."
The cameras were expensive because high definition is needed to ensure vehicle registration numbers are recorded and the cameras needed to be linked up with the traffic control signals.
The city's main intersections are monitored by traffic cameras. These have already been used to nab red-light runners and alert police to certain intersections that might require a police presence at times.
Western Bay of Plenty acting road policing manager Senior Sergeant Mark Holmes said there were many crashes that occurred at Tauranga intersections where the at-fault driver ran a red light signal, intentionally or not.
Mr Holmes said it was for this reason police regularly targeted intersection compliance, "with the focus on drivers who breached both rules surrounding amber and red signals".
Amber [orange] means stop unless it is unsafe to do so.
"Police have a role to play in keeping people safe and will enforce the road user rules when required, but we do need to work alongside the public to reduce road trauma. We need people to lead by example in their driving, personal responsibility is far more powerful than police enforcement," Mr Holmes said.
The Auckland trial results showed 75 per cent of Aucklanders surveyed supported the use of red-light cameras.
"Red-light cameras have proved themselves," said AA motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon.
"They are one of the best things we can do to improve road safety at city intersections in New Zealand. They work, they are cost-effective and they have public support."
Mr Noon said running red lights was a totally unacceptable road safety epidemic.
"The Ministry of Transport says not stopping at a red light was likely to have been a factor in 227 crashes in 2009. No one has the right to impose these risks on other drivers," Mr Noon said.
Two cameras are being moved between the 10 approved red-light camera locations in central Auckland.
Red-light cameras
An average 43 per cent reduction in red-light running behaviour at red-light camera sites
An average of 69 per cent decrease in red-light running crashes at red-light camera sites
An estimated 32 per cent reduction in rear-end crashes at red-light camera sites
An estimated 93 per cent reduction in the social cost of crashes at red-light camera sites
An estimated economic benefit cost ratio of 8.2:1
A significant reduction in red-light running infringements at one camera location
75 per cent of Aucklanders surveyed supported the use of red-light cameras
