The RAC Foundation has called on the Government and police to target more financial resources on traffic light cameras and physical enforcement rather than concentrating solely on speed cameras.

The RAC's demand was prompted by new evidence suggesting that both motorists and cyclists have a growing disregard for red traffic lights.

According to the Foundation, police should also start to actively enforce laws designed to improve the safety of cyclists, including careless and dangerous cycling which can carry a fine of up to £2,500. This could arise from a biker ignoring a red traffic light and endangering other road users.

A snapshot survey of driver behaviour in London and Glasgow found that a surprising number of motorists and cyclists failed to stop at red traffic signals completely or attempted to scramble through on amber.

One in 10 car drivers risked a serious accident or injury to themselves, other road users and pedestrians by driving through a traffic light when it had clearly been red for over three seconds while a further two in 10 took a chance on a last minute amber signal.

Bus drivers too were observed to frequently disobey traffic lights. In London, as many as one in five bus drivers were found to ride through traffic signals making them worse offenders than car drivers and putting their passengers at risk of serious injury.

Cyclists were found to have the least regard for traffic lights, most notably in central London. In Glasgow up to one in four cyclists seemed to have no regard for the existence of traffic lights. In central London this figure rose to as high as 50 per cent of all people on a bike.

Government accident statistics do not break down their records for road traffic accidents to include people killed or injured by disobeying traffic signals. A regional break down for the West Midlands region, however, shows that as many as 131 people were killed or seriously injured in 2001 in crashes resulting from failure to comply with a traffic signal.

The RAC Foundation has written to the Secretary of State encouraging him to review the emphasis on remote enforcement away from increasing the speed cameras and focusing instead on red light cameras. Local safety camera partnerships have been established throughout the UK, allowing some of the revenue from tickets to be re-invested in future camera activity.

Kevin Delaney, traffic and road safety manager for the RAC Foundation, said: "This growing disregard for red lights by a growing minority of road users is alarming.

"Growing congestion is frustrating for all road users. It makes them late, often so late that their journey is wasted and they don't get to their destination.

"This may increase the temptation to ignore red traffic lights, but it is dangerous and a foolish way to beat the clock. However, it seems that an increasing number of drivers and cyclists are putting their safety and that of other road users, especially pedestrians, in jeopardy by risking it at traffic lights.

"We hope that Government and the police will give greater priority to tackling the red mist which descends over this anti-social minority by putting the same level of effort into detecting red light running and prosecuting offenders, be they motorists or cyclists, as they presently do for speeding."

RAC consultant psychologist Conrad King said: "Both motorists and cyclists have their own flexible moral code when it comes to traffic lights. Sneaking through a light gives someone an illusion of power and freedom, albeit for a brief few seconds. In congestion-rife modern cities even that illusion is hard to come by when you are stuck behind the wheel.

"The lack of any adequate policing of cyclists has meant that some of them see themselves as beyond the law. If they can get away with it, they will do it. This may include running through red lights and pedestrian crossings as well as riding on the pavement."