I absolutely love the idea of these features.
At courses with humble budgets, sand traps can be a drain on maintenance budgets. This is especially true if poorly built or if they have a bad sand ratio leading to drainage issues. We can opine that hazards don't need to be maintained, but the perception of most customers, member or daily fee, won't concur with that statement.
A really good way to force a type of approach, and provide a different look at saves.