The trick is to drive normal speed and at the very last second speed like a madman, so that it still has to cycle to amber then red just as you leave the intersection!

Sounds super dangerous though.

The red light is some distance ahead, not right in front of the speed detector so that you have to immediately hammer down the break pedal and be rear-ended by the vehicle behind.

Of course some will still get as close to the light as they can and hammer the breaks last moment, but they'll do that at other lights too, and other unsafe things, so the danger is not caused by the light in that instance.

Is it a normal light at an intersection, or an extra one somewhere in the middle of a block? It's not hard for me to imagine people scoffing at the mid-block light and deciding to run through it.

Neither I'd say. They're usually on long stretches of old highways with no traffic lights between roundabouts where lots of commercial and residential buildings (and thus people) are right on the curb.