At one time there was a "dangerous driving" law where the police could book you for anything even slightly dangerous now all the reliance is on revenue collecting and, as you say a automatic, machine controlled system.
It is always easy to say it was better in the old days but the fact is no matter what system you have has to rely on the same basics.
The system that we have now has been developing over the last 30 years and it will take 30 years to reverse it and re-educate drivers into using common sense and courtesy when on the road and quick fixes are a waste of time.
