You know, I thought of that too when I first saw them. But, the Canadians actually follow it pretty well. Don't think they'd do that here in California.

With yellow lights, I've noticed that it seems to vary greatly depending on the stoplight. It's especially true here in San Diego at the intersections with stoplight cameras. If you haven't heard, there was a big lawsuit regarding them and how the city made the yellow lights significantly shorter to catch people and generate revenue.