As a frequent pedestrian, I can't square this thought at all. If the right has a red that means the crosswalk directly in front of the car has a green. I've never had issues walking perpendicular to traffic because almost no one thinks they have right of way sitting in front of a red. The issues I've had is when I'm walking parallel to traffic and people turning right on green have the thought "Oh, he's far enough away from my lane, I can squeeze in", causing a cascade of people having the same thought. Or even people who just don't notice me b/c they're looking straight at the light more than they're looking right at who is waiting on the sidewalk.