From what I've seen about US traffic, there doesn't seem to be much to be envy of.
Most intersections are atrociously designed. Protected left turns everywhere, with their own lane and their own traffic light causing slowdowns and triggering also when nobody needs them.
Many pedestrian crossings could be moved 10m further from an intersection, allowing up to a couple of cars (wishing to turn right) to wait on the pedestrians without blocking all the people who were just going to proceed straight ahead. On the other hand, this problem would often not even occur if we hadn't wasted a lane for a protected left - there now would be a dedicated lane for those going right.
Right-on-red is legally permitted (there's a dedicated street sign for it) but almost never implemented. It's so frustrating.
An overwhelming majority of the traffic lights I encounter is completely non-adaptive. I wait an average of 40 seconds every morning at a specific one which is, in aggregate, causing entire human lifetimes of wasted time on a monthly if not weekly basis.
Zebra crossings are often outfitted with a pedestrian traffic light which is red (rather than off) by default. If the road is completely clear, you could just cross, but no, you must press, wait up to half a minute, and finally it turns to green for you. Now you also stopped a car or 2 which need to wait for your green to finish. If it defaulted to OFF, you could have crossed 20 seconds ago without interrupting anybody's life, and the traffic light would still still be available for elderly or disabled (or whomever wishes to press and wait, while not having it as a default).
...I could continue.