Traffic - For Better, for Worse

When I wrote my piece about my recent trip to India, I included a paragraph about traffic, and I implied within that piece that I was generally less scared to cycle in heavy Indian traffic than I was in heavy English traffic.  In the pub and amongst friends, I've found myself explaining this in more detail.  So I thought I'd try and explain it more thoroughly here.
  

There is no science in this, my view is based on my perceptions rather than any recorded facts.  But I've seen forecasts suggesting that Indian traffic is set to increase by 15% per year so I feel that it's a good time to examine those perceptions.
   
Speed is a factor, certainly.  Vehicles travel more slowly in India partly because of the already severe congestion.  But they also travel more slowly on un-congested roads, too.  Perhaps this is due to the wide range of road users - on all roads, whether busy or not, you see pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds carrying three (or four) passengers, rickshaws, tuc-tucs and three-wheeled trucks; cars, larger trucks, tourist minibuses and, biggest of all, service buses.  Ad to this mix: chickens, goats, and the odd cow, and it is easy to see that care is needed by all road users to avoid hitting one another. 

You could call it "traffic calming"; my own view is that it is a mixture of vigilance, and tolerance of other road users.  Within an environment of tolerant, vigilant drivers, wherever that might be, I feel perfectly happy to ride my bike, even if there is a lot of traffic about.

In England, by contrast, we have roads with speed limits often exceeded, and very few users other than motorised users. Pedestrians are segregated onto pavements and, within cities at least, often fenced off from the roadway "for their own safety".  Cars and vehicles like to have the roads to 

themselves, without horse-riders or  cyclists to slow them.  Some even believe, incorrectly, that they, and only they, finance the road networks, so only they should be able to use them.

Cyclists (and horse-riders) do not belong on the pavements, which are there for pedestrians' exclusive use.  They belong on the roads, where they are not always welcome.  Within an environment of hostile speeding vehicles, in England or anywhere else, it's only sensible to feel scared of riding a bike amongst the traffic.  That’s my perception anyhow; and one with which, to judge the low numbers of cycle-users I see on English roads, a great many people agree.