At least here in Europe yellow means 'stop in safety conditions'. So if the driver saw yellow and didn't stop then they can't blame that the red light came too fast because they should be stopped already.
If you close to the intersection you might still see green or yellow very briefly but the act of slowing down to turn left is enough for you to run in red light territory and get fined.
There apparently is a formula that calculates how long travelers need to leave the intersection and, presumably, if you are still there it means you ran red light. It seems the formula is wrong as it does not grant enough time for lawful travelers in normal conditions.
The condition of waiting for oncoming traffic to clear the intersection so that you may safely make a turn across the oncoming traffic stream is a common one, and presumably leaves most drivers in the intersection when the light turns red in dense traffic.
Worse: they're the only ones wanting to turn, they're past the sensor, and the next cycle is solid green only.
Huh? Even if you slam your brakes immediately when the light turns yellow, you might not stop on time if the yellow light is only on for, say, 100 milliseconds if you were close enough to the intersection.
This isn't at all as simple as you make it out to be, and the article made a pretty good point.
Maybe the fines are different, not sure.
In the UK the amber means "prepare to stop" but only if you can do so safely. If you are too close to stop then you should carry on through (which should be safe as all other lights should be red at this point).
So basically it all boils down to the mood of the cops. I would say it's not frequent to be fined for a yellow (never happened to me in more than 20 years of driving) but I'm pretty sure it would fail your driving license exam.
I think (but I'm not sure) that traffic light cameras only catch red lights.
> Article R412-31 du Code de la route. Vous devez obligatoirement vous arrêter au feu orange, sauf si cela doit vous conduire à un danger.
In my state you are permitted to enter an intersection if the light is solid yellow which is used to indicate it till soon be red. We also have recently seen an expansion of the yellow left turn signals that can be yellow while your main lane is red, meaning you can make a left turn as long as oncoming traffic permits. Those actually made things much better at many intersections.
still when I learned to drive I was told if I was turning and the first car in line that I should be in the intersection ready to turn which could mean completing the turn on red
If you cannot stop safely then you hit the pedal so that you clear the intersection asap since stopping to full stop in the middle of it is bad idea.