I don't ignore red lights when there aren't cars in sight, but I will sometimes treat them as yield signs, slowing enough to look both ways and to stop if I see cars coming. That usually only happens when I'm commuting before 6:00 a.m. Of course, if a cop sees me, I'll have to pay the ticket.

There are also a couple loop-sensored lights on my route that I know I can't trigger. If there are no cars to trigger the light, I treat those as yield signs.

And I almost forgot: Nice story slvoid.