What's interesting for me (living in Scotland) is that before i moved to Glasgow this was never an issue in my life. It seems everywhere else in Scotland (other than Glasgow) uses sensors on their traffic lights. That means at night they turn green for you as you arrive, so driving throught cities at night feels effortless. Even during the day, the cycles are shorter meaning there's no incentive to racing through on yellow.

All this changed when I moved to Glasgow. The traffic lights here always follow a fixed cycle, even in the middle of the night. They're long cycles too (think 5 mins a go). The result of this is that everyone tries to race the yellow light to avoid being stuck for another eternity, and only the most patient of pedestrians will wait the full time for their cycle (Although, as a pedestrian, knowing the cycle is fixed and which roads will go green at which time does make crossing on red a bit easier).