The Colgan crash happened, as has been said, because the crew were poorly trained and didn't understand the implications of the "increase ref speeds switch" or know how to react to a stall warning, as a crew, in the aircraft they were flying.
1500 hours probably wouldn't have made a difference if it was all VFR in a piper cub and they had the same training. Conversely there are many pilots flying aircraft as complex as the Q400, or larger, or faster, who have less than 1500 hours but are properly trained on the aircraft they fly who would not have stalled and crashed.