I think a more effective approach toward driving would be like Germany's:
1) The process to get a license is more rigorous, and driving is taken more seriously
2) While there are speed limits on most roads, police tend to issue tickets for tailgating, not for speeding (though there are mobile "blitz" enforcement cameras)
the first one is point on, way, way too many drivers who not only are technically bad drivers, but are driving vehicles too large and too powerful for them.
Law of unintended consequences... What happens with a rigorous testing and licensing process?
1. People stop driving, because they can't pass.
2. People stop buying cars, because they can't drive.
3. People move closer to work. They can no longer live far away from work, because they can't drive.
4. Auto manufacturing workers get laid off, because they aren't making as many cars.
5. Realestate in cities increases in value, because everyone is moving closer to work.
6. Suburbs start decreasing in value and start to decay as people move out.
7. Car insurance companies start laying off workers as people stop needing it, because they aren't driving.
8. Auto body shops, car dealerships, and car washes all stop hiring and laying off workers or closing out right, as no one needs them.
9. Road workers are let go, because with less traffic, fewer roads are in need of repair and new ones aren't needed.
10. Businesses and shops move closer to the population centers.
11. Oil companies reduce production and lay off workers as demand for fossil fuels decreases.
It sounds a lot like Europe... the only difference is they made these changes over decades... not over night. If we tried to implement this too many people would be laid off. The industries and markets would not rebound fast enough to create new jobs and we would have a huge spike in unemployment that might last for a very long time. Our middle class, would quickly become lower middle class, or even lower class because so many industries rely on one another. If we lose auto manufacturing, we lose steel workers, we lose fabricators, we lose composite molders, so on and so forth... What industries could take it's place? Without a seriously vetted out plan to replace our reliance on cars, we are stuck with this system.
Instead, why not put a premium on not driving with a phone. Make a signal jammer that when a car is turned on cell service is lost. Don't make it mandatory, but let insurance give you a rebate if you install it. Soon enough people will have them, and other people will get them as their signal gets disrupted when someone else has one near by... Why not get the rebate too. Wait, what about GPS and music applications from phones... Well instead of a jammer, why not integrate technology that turns off cell phone calling and texting ability when the GPS is traveling greater than 15mph?