I've thought about this too and believe a major factor is the population - life is cheap in Asia because of the numbers. We don't care unless a lot of people st

I've thought about this too and believe a major factor is the population - life is cheap in Asia because of the numbers. We don't care unless a lot of people start dying. Even if preventive laws exist (for example, wearing helmet is compulsory while driving two-wheelers) a lot of Asians are lax with it and sometimes ignore it (common excuses include hot weather). An accident in Asian coutries is often a small footnote in the media where as in western societies it may be a prominent news. Ofcourse, there are exceptions like Korea, Japan and Singapore, but they also have fewer population than other asian countries.