I have experienced this several times and it pissed me off enough that I consider it
nodeworthy.
It is quite common when turning left at a large intersection to pull out far enough that you will be able to either whip between several cars going straight in the other direction or make your turn right after the light goes yellow and people start stopping. This is perfectly reasonable. But you must realize that once you've pulled out into the middle of the intersection, you're committed. It's the same as when they put that bar down over your legs on a rollercoaster. There's no turning back.
And that is where the problem occurs. Suppose we have this situation:
Someone pulls out into the intersection to make a left turn but there's no chance for them to make it via the first option before the light goes yellow. At this point the person is unfazed and is waiting for the cars to stop so he can make his left turn. But what's this? Cars aren't stopping! Why, some of them are even speeding up!
Then it happens, the light goes red and still two or three cars zip by. At this point any reasonable person would simply make the turn even though the light was red so they get out of the way. But what does our hero do, first he attempts to backup, which is impossible because the people behind him have already pulled up on his bumper. So he then just sits there like a deer in headlights as the perpendicular traffic starts to come towards him, laying down on their horns. Sad.