Let me tell you that as a Portuguese (who also lived in The Netherlands en kan selfs nederlands spreken) and am thus intimatelly familiar with an environment were a lot of the rules of the road are de facto "indicative" (either because they're vague or because they're not properly enforced with stiff punishment for non-compliance), that the result is a fucked up environment with more deaths (just check Portugal's road mortality rates, the worst or near worst in Europe).

Don't properly regulate or sternely enforce the rules (the second being the main problem in Portugal) and the result is all the assholes regularly doing asshole shit that sooner or later ends up harming and even killing other people, either directly or indirectly.

Personally I much preferred the way of doing things I saw in The Netherlands and Germany.