Back around 2003 or so I was in NYC visiting one of my fraternity brothers, and I made a right-on-red and he screams at me "Yooooooooo, what you doin?!?!" in his surprisingly thick NY accent for a guy originally from Shanghai. I had no clue that was illegal, it's not like they had signs stating it. I'm from Philly's NJ surburbs but I almost never drive up to NYC. Seems like a policy designed to easily ensnare out-of-town drivers.