This is where the consistency of enforcement, or the lack of it, comes into play. If everyone knew that hitting the gas when the light turned yellow was going to get them a 10-minute curbside lecture and a $200 fine, there would be a lot less broken glass lying on the road at intersections.

But because the enforcement of this and most other laws is pretty much none-existent for most of the year, it never occurs to anyone to think about stopping, as long as they think they can get through the intersection before the traffic cuts loose in the other direction.

Toronto even had 'public opposition' at first to red-light cameras, the same as the "privacy concerns' that ended the photo-radar program. I am guessing the opposition came from people who made a habit of rolling through some very red lights, and there were enough of these people to represent an actual political will!

It was only after the city only placed a handful of cameras spread over hundreds of intersections that public "privacy" concerns of the red-light running public diminished, and Torontonians could again associate a yellow light with the gas pedal, not the brake.

Fact: This week, in Toronto, I have seen older drivers (not even a punk kids!) drive past a row of stopped cars by using the right-hand turn lane, and blow through a light IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RED CYCLE. I have seen this personally, twice, in the last three days. The cops MUST know this stuff is going on.

So am I sympathetic for a bike ticketed for blowing a yellow?

Yes.