Gulzar has a fab post on the topic. s
He points how the two areas differ in their traffic management systems.
The prevailing traffic management paradigms on both sides of the Atlantic could not have been more contrasting. On the one side American cities are implementing policies that adapt cities to accommodate driving (by intelligent transport systems to improve traffic flow and apps to help drivers find parking spaces), while on the other hand European cities are creating environments that are hostile to cars (congestion pricing, outright car bans from green and pedestrian zones, closely spaced red lights, speed and parking restrictions, pedestrianization etc).
The strategies employed by European cities aims to make car use expensive and difficult and thereby force them into using other modes of transport.
As Europe was built much before US, it has narrow roads and needs to stop congestion. US has much wider roads barring old areas and hence has different policies. In Swiss, it is not odd to see parliament members take trams to work.
Barring this there are some other interesting restrictions as well:
Further, even as American cities try to synchronize green lights to expedite traffic flow, European cities have been shortening the green-light periods and lengthening the red light times so as to reduce waiting times for pedestrians. In stark contrast to countries like US and India which stipulate minimum parking space for apartment units and new buildings, building codes in Europe cap the number of parking spaces in new buildings to discourage car ownership. Store owners in Zurich who had worried that road closings and pedestrianization would reduce business have been pleasantly surprised to see 30-40% increase in pedestrian traffic.
Then in Europe no one really breaks these rules which is very different from the experiences in India where traffic rules are not followed. Infactit is rare for people following the rules.
Nice perspective..
Mostly Economics 
