The other night I had a little bit of a close call. There's a stop light that I go through on my way back home from a friend's place a lot. On my way home, usually if it's a fresh yellow I'll go for it, but there's some road construction going on right now so you have to change into the parking lane right after the light and I don't like doing it super quickly since there are a couple steel plates on the road.
So, I decided to slow down right as the light turned yellow instead of going through the yellow... As I'm almost to the stop line, an E90 with an idiot driving south (I'm driving east) turns left through the red. If I had gone for the yellow, I would have been t-boned. I was driving my Honda too, and I doubt it would have kept me as safe as my M5.
A few years ago I attended a weekend traffic safety class. One of the instructors said that when anyone else is on the road, it is best to believe that their purpose while they are driving is to kill you, and to pay attention to them accordingly. I drive about 25,000 miles per year, and, well... in my experience, it's true.