The “let’s make life shittier for people so they’ll do the things I think are right” is bad politics and bad policy.
This is especially true about Austin.
https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/photos-...
There needs to be a will to change.
https://www.ceicdata.com/en/france/motor-vehicle-ownership-p...
Overall, the change has been small, and most people still have a car. And the metro network was very advanced by 1939 (unlike some US cities, these lines stayed):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_M%C3%A9tro#/media/File:M...
That's in one of the densest and most famously walkable cities in the world. Most cities in the United States aren't going to be Paris anytime soon, and that's before we consider the dismal state of regional transport (particularly around the West Coast) which was also already extensive in France prior to 2000.
There is just no real basis for claiming that Europe restricted cars prior to building good transit. You might find it in one or two cities, but certainly not most -- in Europe, socialist and communist parties held significant sway until the late '70s in many countries (in a few they've hung on), and pushed for transit the whole time.
America needs to CHOOSE to build transit. The carrot approach hasn't worked, so it's time for the stick.
So do you propose we lift all bans on drunk driving as to make life slightly more enjoyable for a subset of society?
At some level all laws trade off “making life shittier” for some to “make life better” for society. You can argue against particular laws but categorically being against it reduces your argument as asking for anarchism.