meaning
I read the following dialogue which I think is quite weird.
- Look! Some people are running the red lights.
- We should wait although others are breaking the rule.
I don't think the sentence "Some people are running the red lights" is correct. Suppose there is a scene: There is the red light, but we still run across the road without stopping. We can't say "we are running the red light", right? So how to say it in an authentic way?
In short, the ones that are correct are all the same.
They all look like this:
As an American having lived in various parts of the country, I can safely say that "brake light" isn't used AT ALL for traffic lights. It means something very different in fact. It is the red light on the back of a car that lights up when you brake that looks like this:
Of all of the words you gave, traffic light is the most common. Stop light is also used sometimes. I'm guessing that red traffic light came along as a synonym for stop light, because the light is red. It is the same thing as a traffic light.
Take a look at the Ngram for those terms to see for yourself:
In the context of giving directions, yes, "light" implies a traffic light, unless there is some other landmark around like a HUGE lightbulb. But that isn't usually the case.
"a lot" here is used adverbially. It can mean to a great extent or frequently.
lot
adverb (preceded by a)
13. to a considerable extent, degree, or amount; very much: to delay a lot.
14. a great deal of the time or often: to sing madrigals a lot.
Collins English Dictionary1.a lot or lots (Informal)
b. Used adverbially to mean "to a great degree or extent" or "frequently": felt a lot better; ran lots faster; doesn't go out a whole lot; has seen her lots lately.
American Heritage Dictionary
That Amazon page lists statements that supposedly apply to leaders.
One of them is:
Are Right, A Lot
Leaders are right a lot.
What they are saying is:
leaders are very often right
In an informal way.
To answer your question
Can one say "John is right a lot..."?
You can, for example:
John is right a lot in his decisions.
But this sounds terrible as a sentence in my opinion.
A better way to say something like this might be:
John very often makes the right decisions.
They've just chosen a quite informal way of saying leaders are very often right.
The word "lot" has many different functions and forms. Usually "a lot" and "lots" act as adverbs, while "a lot of" and "lots of" act as quantifiers, a type of determiner, that is, they tell you a quantity, much like "many", "few", "some" etc.
There are some good sources on the internet about the use of these variants.
Best Answer
"Run a red light" is an idiomatic expression which means "to pass through an intersection while the traffic light is red without stopping."
So there is nothing "weird" in that dialogue and, as far as I can tell, using idiomatic English is pretty "authentic" as long as you correctly use it.
(Reference: "Dictionary of American Idioms" by R.A. Spears".)
The idiom is also used in British English along with "jumping a red light". Discussion in the comments revealed that "breaking a red light" is used in Ireland.