Is Red the New Green?

So I've been riding this super up-right position hybrid bike I bought at a yard sale this summer for $40. It's a nice bike and I definitely got a huge deal on it. It's very too small for me, though--but it gets me from A to B around town and it's fun to ride.

So I take this bike to work the other night, yadda yadda, and on the ride home I came up to the traffic light near my house, which was red, so I coasted towards it, since the light the other way had just turned yellow. A car was approaching the yellow light but it was at a considerable distance.

My light turned green and I kept going, but the guy coming towards the intersection didn't care at all--he just kept going through. I mean, it wasn't like even remotely non-red. It was red. It wasn't pink. It wasn't like he got there as it was turning red. He was there within one second of it turning red, but he was not there within half a second of it turning red.

So I see this troglodyte plowing through the intersection straight at me. I pull my brake, he jams his brake and swerves to avoid me, and squeals his tires. And keeps going while I yell inquisitively/abusively after him.

The thing is this: I was on the hybrid and in a low-key cruising kind of mood. If I had been on my race bike and had been track standing at the light and then sprinted as soon as it turned green like I normally do, I'd have been ten feet in front of where I was, and I'd have taken a Chrysler to the face.

Seriously though, what is with people?