What dumbasses came up with that rule? Isn't the whole point of the yellow light to signal that it will turn red soon, and that people have to make a choice?
So if you drive up to a green light then you have to stop, wait for the red light and then drive when it turns green again to ensure that you're not running a yellow light.
In practice yellow phases are too long and taken by many as a signal to speed up and speed through. I don't think police enforce the rules here, but this is clearly prohibited.
If you are still travelling fast at the lights when they turn red, you must have been ignoring the yellow light, so this makes no sense. The whole point of the yellow light is to ensure that you have time to stop before the lights go red, making running the red lights inexcusable.
Not that I've never run a red light, I'm no angel, but this argument is absurd.
That's how I learned it in Germany, anyway.