Disregarding red pedestrian traffic lights is the norm in France, they are seen as indicative: green means you can pass regardless of traffic as you have absolute priority, red means you must pay attention to cars but you are still allowed to cross and the law supports that. "Jaywalking" doesn't exist in France and pedestrians can basically cross wherever and whenever they want (it's a bit more complicated than that, but not by much).
Cars do have priority when traffic lights are red for pedestrians but they would still be held responsible for any accident.
Thus, it seems to me that your impression stems from ignorance of French traffic law and norms, as the parent said. Visiting a foreign country and thinking all rules are the same as they are at home is always a recipe for disappointment.
Like, now that I live in Belgium I know that red for cars means that one or two cars will probably still go through the intersection and I shouldn't cross (as a pedestrian or a driver) without paying attention. That's not the case in France and I could think that Belgians (or at least the Flemish, don't know about the rest) "have a total disregard for traffic rules" but that's not true, it's just one difference that you have to be aware of.
The "code the la route" article R413-38 says otherwise:
Lorsque la traversée d'une chaussée est réglée par ces feux, les piétons ne doivent s'engager qu'au feu vert.
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI0000...
The law also says that pedestrians can be fined all of 4 euros for crossing at red and they have no responsibility in the case of an accident, which means in practice there are no consequences for crossing at red. As long as you check that you aren't going to be run over by a car, which people do. They cross at red if there are no cars.
I imagine they know their city quite well, and suspect many of those traffic lights hinder rather than help pedestrians. Tourists on scooters, on the other hand, don't know the city as well as them, won't know its unwritten rules, and are quite likely to mess up traffic (like you did while waiting for a light to turn green).
This is how normal people use lights in the rest of the world.
If it is green walk. If it is red - look around and if it is reasonably safe walk.
Jaywalking is not a rule or anything like it. The UK highway Code has recently been changed so that pedestrians have right od way over cars turning into a side street (although not if controlled by traffic lights)
I am Belgian. In the smaller Belgian cities that I frequent, pedestrians seem to wait for traffic lights.
Admittedly that is not the case in Brussels. Maybe it is a big city thing.
You're generalizing too much and making exact same mistake you're complaining about. Also jaywalking and going on the red light are not the same.
Here in Poland:
* you would get a ticket if police sees you crossing a pedestrian crossing on red light * you would also get one if there is pedestrian crossing near you(100m) and you don't use it while crossing * no crossing nearby ? You can pass unless it is something like a highway. You don't get priority in this case.
Each time I stop, as a pedestrian, to wait for a traffic light to turn green, grumbling Parisians walk around me and cross the street with complete disregard for the red light. (I'm not sure I've ever even seen a Parisian pedestrian waiting for a traffic light. They might wait for traffic to clear a bit, but not until there's a green light.)
So to me, it looks like the locals have zero respect for traffic rules. Therefore I'm not surprised that new modes of transport come with a lot of problems.