To the point about how you defend yourself if you get ticketed by a camera that malfunctions and photographs your car at a green light, simply bring the cops or the judge or whoever out to that intersection and take a sample.
To the point about not knowing whether to punch the gas or hit the brake, if there is a left turn lane, the solid line where that lane begins (well, around here anyways) is usually the length that it would take your car to travel, at the speed limit, from the time the lite turns yellow until it turns red. So, if you have passed the point where the left turn lane begins when the lite turns yellow, you will make it into the intersection before it turns red, assuming you are going the speed limit. Other than that I don't know, if it's that close and you get nailed, you can still probably make a case for yourself (unless you were speeding).
In Sacramento they have a lot of intersection cameras. They are all preceeded with white signs that have a picture of a stoplight and say "Photo Enforced". I was at one of those intersections a couple weeks ago at night. The cars on the opposite side of the intersection had the left green arrow, and as it went from orange to red, the last guy in line hesitated at first, then committed, then stopped just after he had crossed the line into the intersection. The camera flash went off, and as he reversed back behind the line, the flash went off again. I thought that was pretty funny. At first I thought he'd get two tickets, but then figured that having the second photo would actually prove he had stopped. The system is not going to be fool proof, no system ever is. But for now I see it as a good deterrant for red light runners.
