Hang On a Second
Lets get back to triadics original post and the worrying effect of (any) regulation.
The appropriate response to any incident/accident is to find out how NOT to repeat the incident/accident again in the future. With the potential (and proven in practice by history) of the regulator to get all legal about an incident/accident, IS, a real threat to an open and even frank reporting culture. Without such a culture 'things' will happen that go unreported, to the detriment of all. How can we learn to avoid and set up systems to monitor our flying environment without such an open and frank reporting culture.
Wonderfully written legislation, strict liability and all the other legal motherhood terms will count for absolutely nothing if the ultimate effect of any legislation is to reduce (even completely dry up) the reporting culture that is the real heart of Safety Management Systems.
I hope Prof's Reason and Hudson are not reading any of this.
Disco Stu