“you could have stopped but didn’t” vs “you should have already been stopped but weren’t”
Basically, when you come to a yellow light, there are two ways you can look at the situation: “can I safely stop before reaching the intersection?” or “can I make it through the intersection before the light turns red?” The idea behind “yellow running” regulations is that drivers should be asking themselves the first question, not the second.









My understanding is that, at least where applicable in the US, it’s pretty rare to get a ticket for running a yellow. So it might be one of those things that never actually comes up, or only when part of another charge.