Peoples acceptance of risk is very personal.
I travel to India a bit for work and am always amazed at the traffic. Whole families of four all perched on a moped - husband with a helmet, wife and kids without, often the wife holding the baby sitting sidesaddle as they negotiate the chaos. Its normal to them and of course to us totally wrong.
As for the ferry, Id get on/off it and ok but worry more about the rust that would be inflicted on my vehicle