In fairness, UK streets are often tiny compared to those in the US (at least in my experience motoring around southern England for a week). I suspect that plays a nontrivial role.
No doubt, but in my short experience in southern England, if you're not on a major highway, you're often on a lane just big enough for one compact car and sidewalks are used in case of oncoming traffic. Chicago alleys are positively spacious by comparison. I imagine truck drivers just learn routes with wider roads.
