I get the rules of the road analogy but those rules are in place for the purposes of safety, regardless of how you employ them the reasonable expectation is that they will be observed. The rules of music are considerably blurred by comparison because 'safety' is on no one's mind. (Charlie Parker and Coltrane come to mind.)

It is helpful to have intention built into your creative purpose but much is to be said for 'happy accidents' which no musician, educated or not, hasn't stumbled upon in their respective journeys. As for the beginning composer, we have all been there and I dare say it was fun to be ignorant because the absent of rules made us much braver then. My personal struggle as a songwriter is to somehow get "back to the egg" because it all seemed fresh and exciting when we knew nothing.