Southern District acting road policing manager, Inspector Steve Larking, of Dunedin, told members of the Otago Regional Transport Committee that "mufti-patrols" regularly monitored city intersections to clamp down on red light-running motorists.
"There is a perception red light-running is getting worse, but we have no evidence this is the case in Dunedin," he said.
His comments followed Bikers Rights Association New Zealand (Bronz) president Lyn McKie, of Dunedin, asking what police were doing to address the issue.
She asked whether Dunedin police were considering installing cameras to monitor driver compliance with traffic lights.
Insp Larking said trials were being carried out at other centres around the country, but results were not yet available in Dunedin.
New Zealand Transport Agency Southern regional planning and project manager Bruce Richards said the agency provided funding to police to enforce such matters.
A Wellington-based project being carried out by police there was being funded to investigate whether driver monitoring using cameras had an effect on errant motorists, he said.
"Police are expected to enforce this matter and do their job. I would have thought in a community this size, word would get round pretty quick if there was a problem," Mr Richards said.
Dunedin City Council road safety adviser Henriette Rawlings said the problem of red light-running was a national issue.
However, Dunedin's woeful road crash record, particularly in regards to urban intersections - for which Dunedin has the worst rate among national statistics - was evidence enough for the matter to be given more attention, she said.
