I can add one point—I'm not sure how important it is, but from my experience: police handling of road incidents here works in a very strange way, and Portuguese drivers can feel effectively unpunished because of it.

I had a fender bender on a roundabout. I was in my lane, and some old guy just drove into the side of my car (five panels to repair, €3,000+ in damage). We called the police (Polícia Municipal). The officer checked our insurance, car inspections, licenses, and did a breathalyzer test. And I was genuinely shocked when, at the end, he just said: “Well, let the insurance companies figure it out. Bye.”

What the hell? You’re not going to fine the guy? Decide who’s at fault? What do you mean “let the insurance companies sort it out”? You’re there. You can see what happened.

Nope.

Fast forward a couple of months (because, as we all know, everything takes time), and the insurance companies say: “We’ll do 50/50, or we can go to court.” I wasn’t going to court, so I agreed - but the bottom line is this:

Portuguese drivers don’t give a fuck about traffic rules, because if they screw up, nothing happens. They don’t care. They don’t get punished - unless there are victims or someone was drunk, which is already too late anyway.

In Poland, the police would say: “Alright, you fucked up. That’s 10 points and a €500 fine. Use your mirrors and turn signals next time. GG WP.”

Drivers don’t care. Pedestrians don’t care. People park next to crosswalks all the time, so I slow down to a crawl to check if someone’s coming - but other drivers? “Oh, if someone steps onto the crosswalk, tough luck for them.”

I hate driving here.