Re: Why is the US having trouble?
Two main reasons:
1) Each state and each locality gets to make the call. There is no uniform federal requirement for roads unless the road has a federal designation (either a U.S. Route or an Interstate), and even then federal proceeds for them go through the states, since it's their respective Departments of Transportation (or equivalent) that actually do the work. Traffic violations and such are normally handled by the municipality in which it occurred and they get the proceeds. For small towns and such, "bear traps" (bear is trucker's slang for police) are about the only things keeping their budgets afloat.
2) The general public attitude towards such laws is not considered very respectable. As far as they're concerned, the rules are made to be broken, and it's hard to make them change their minds (I recently saw a case of a man with at least TEN DUI convictions, and I'm told such repeat offenders are distressingly common; plus it's hard to just throw them in jail because they're the breadwinners, as in spouses and children depend on them). Night racing even gets it's appeal BECAUSE part of the aim is to outrun the cops. To give you a counter-example, here's how a supposedly-typical Bostonian views the traffic lights:
Green = Go as quickly as you can.
Yellow = Go FASTER!
Red = Room for one more!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
