You say that exaggerating, but I was recently in Caracas in, and there they really mean nothing. At night or when the traffic is light, cars slow down but continue straight through red lights and stop streets. It freaked me out at first, but you get used to it. The reason is it go so dangerous at one point that it was to risky to stop the car at an intersection at night. It's not as bad now, but the habit remains.