Police spotting (junction watch)

People running onto the road != normal traffic conditions.. or does it?

In London? I'd say yes, it is. It's completely normal. And so would you, given how upset you get about it every day :-)

Normal traffic conditions is red man = don't walk so what happens when they do walk? Nothing? If so, what's the point of even having ped crossings and timed crossing signals? Traffic should be slowed to 10mph everywhere and pedestrians can step out without fear of being mowed down. But this isn't the case.

Normal traffic conditions is for you, not peds. You can "should" about how to improve the roads for everybody all day long if you want, but nevertheless if a ped ends up in the road in front of you, there is no provision in law to prevent them from being there, even if there's a red man showing.