I agree it's a serious issue that should be taken seriously. The statutory value approach is one of many possible ways to address it, though. It leans on other laws for theft, larceny, vandalism, or destruction of property with a fictional sum rather than just making the theft or destruction its own offense. I'm not aware of places that take both approaches, but those may exist. Prosecutors do like having options, including bringing multiple charges for the same act.
Only someone who assumes they have the right-of-way through an intersection when they don't see a sign, and can just blow through without looking if anything is coming.
Even in stop-sign-happy North America there aren't stop signs everywhere there could be stop signs; every licensed driver must know what to do at an uncontrolled intersection.
So do people who mistakenly blow through a stop sign or make any other potentially fatal mistake.
I regret to say that I don't see the point of this remark.
As a licensed driver you're required to know what to do when approaching an unguarded intersection where you clearly do not have right-of-way, and not interpret the lack of a stop sign as a green light.
Some countries have a more finely developed concept of right of way than the USA and Canada. They have signs which indicates right-of-way paths through intersections via map-like diagrams. Also, signs which indicate a change in right-of-way status of the current road.
Removing a sign which negates a road's right-of-way status will likely cause an accident.