Having choice is more important
Well, the main cause for the situation on the roads is the possibility for every id**t to get and then maintain the license (so they are not invalidated after in comes out, what these are able to do "behind the wheel").
And then when some road rules (mainly the local ones) become abundant or ridiculous after time, it became a common habit to officially keep them, but tolerate their violations. It starts from the tolerance of speed limits (even the small "It was just 5mph, that should not be dangerous"; that is usually rather minor), tailgating ("There was no collision, so that proved it was enough"), passing over when there is limited visibility or it is locally forbidden ("There is good visibility"), crossing the railway with the signals active ("There was no train around") and many other similar cases.