Mars,
The point about educating your passenger and the "duty of care" issue is an interesting one. I suggest my idea of holding management and owners responsible as well as pilots and mechanics/engineers might go a long way of improving the situation.
Consider this concept in the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil businesss....No jigsaw down there....no effective SAR at all...particularly at night. The primary SAR response will be non-SAR capable commerical helicopters and surface vessels again primarily non SAR capable private vessels. The USCG is busy doing the Homeland Security bit and that has adversely impacted the SAR mission they are so famous for in the past.
Every single day....thousands of passengers are flying in the GOM without survival suits or any viable SAR helicopter service to assist in an emergency. If you go down at night.....you are in big, big trouble.
This is the mindset over here.....bottomline numbers first....everything else second.