I was told by several recent visitors there that in London, drivers do care about pedestrians just like you say, and just like I observed in Western France, but Paris was different. (As further evidence, there are the car mirrors punched off by Jérôme, too ;-) ) Unfortunately, Budapest is another such case -- which doesn't IMO mean that your theory is wrong, but that there are other factors (in Budapest: car = status = fuck off the road pedestrians, the road belongs to me!)

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}