We sat near an intersection in New Plymouth for 10 minutes to see how many people actually stop. The results were shocking.

Police will be handing out tickets instead of warnings during a crackdown on poor driving in Taranaki.

Police have been targeting drivers breaking the rules in September as part of an ongoing push to make the region's roads safer for everyone.

"People don't deserve warnings for not doing what we all know is supposed to happen," Sergeant George White said.

Robert Charles/FAIRFAX NZ Police sergeant and New Plymouth road policing supervisor, George White says drivers caught breaking the law can expect to get tickets not warnings

"People will get tickets, that's all there is to it."

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White, road policing supervisor, said intersections were a major scene of crashes.

SIMON O'CONNOR/Stuff.co.nz Police are cracking down on dangerous drivers in Taranaki, particularly around intersections.

"There's the behaviour at traffic lights which is particularly bad and then stop signs and give way signs."

Drivers were continuing to accelerate hard to beat orange lights and were even trying to sneak through real fast once lights had turned red.

White said drivers needed to focus on what was going on around them and be patient on the roads, he said.

SIMON O'CONNOR/Fairfax NZ Cars running red lights at the intersection of Courtenay and Liardet streets in New Plymouth.

"Basically if the light turns red while you are in the intersection you should have been able to stop on the orange."

Drivers who continued to roll through stop signs were concerning police, he said.

"A lot of people at stop signs think it's clear, I can just go.

"When you are sitting in a car and actually physically stop and look you realise there are significant blind spots and that's the reason it's a compulsory stop.

"When you roll through you haven't been able to check properly, you think you have but you haven't, and all of a sudden you end up with a car in your door."

White said there was only a micro-second between a non-injury and a fatal crash.

During a survey around New Plymouth on Wednesday four cars failed to stop, within 18 minutes, at the intersection of Mangorei Rd and SH3.

A steady flow of 81 vehicles, including a school bus, ignored the rules at the intersection of Vivian and Morley streets and multiple cars raced through orange and red lights at the intersection of Courtenay and Liardet streets.

Police made no apologies for taking the hard line with law breakers, White said.

"We are here to save lives, that's our big focus."

White said attending fatal accidents took its toll on emergency services staff.

"It's quite a long detailed process and it's quite traumatic for everybody involved in the crash.

"You can be as tough as you like, it does effect you. It's usually very terrible and traumatic."

He said police could not patrol every intersection but would also be using cameras to catch out drivers breaking the law.