Yes pedestrians can do stupid things, but it's the responsibility of drivers not to kill them (me). And quite often people are a wee bit confused about when pedestrians have the right of way, and even more confused about whether a lack of right of way is a license to kill them (answer: in theory, no, in practice, quite often.)
I'd probably be a little mush puddle on the road, or figuring out my new life in a wheelchair, if I hadn't been paying more attention the other day. I had the light. Like a careful pedestrian I just happened to notice that the car approaching the crosswalk/intersection was unlikely to be able to stop in time. I also noticed that the driver was on the phone. So I waited. Sure enough the driver blew through the crosswalk before stopping a few feet past the red light.
This type of thing is a regular occurrence in a place where the the streets generally are built to pedestrian scale. If there's a light or top sign every block, you really have to work to speed obliviously, and there really isn't any point to it anyway. I shouldn't have to look before I cross at the light on a crosswalk, but I do because I have to.
