RiSq Add another category to your list.
Professional Videographers and Photographers
No doubt that in the hands of the masses, Drones will only become a bigger and bigger pest if left uncontrolled.
El G.
El Grifo - I neglected to mention those - you are correct. The likelihood is, they have obtained bnuc-s though as they require it to to fly professionally (Commercially) and to seek CAA approval for flight plans. Of course, you only get the bnuc-s after paying out a small fortune as it stands, but gearing up a similar course or a re-structure of the existing one will drastically improve things.
It doesn't help that one person at the CAA tells you one thing, then another tells you something completely different. The CAA needs to get its house in order.
The fact is - you are always going to get people who bend the law and rules. But rooting out the ones deliberately flouting the rules from those who break them unknowingly is half way to solving the problem - no perfectly, but it will help.
RiSq
I understand where you are coming from. However, to anyone determined enough none of the suggestions you make will prevent unscrupulous shops selling drones to anyone they feel like - whether or not the customer has any form of formal licence or qualification.
If some people are happy to drive a car without insurance or tax then what makes you think that their counterparts in the drone world won't do exactly the same?
Re your reference to the M4, last time I looked I didn't see any 747's driving down the outside lane !!
You are correct - it won't be the all-in-one solution but it would help a lot and half the issue is education. People don't understand the technology which is in their hands half the time.
Having a system in place would help root out the bad apples from the good though.
Ref my M4 Comment: - Lets face it. If a terrorist wants to blow something up, they will. There were loopholes in the security systems of Aviation and they were exploited. Those holes have now been closed to a ridiculous level and in some instances, at a loss to the average joe. Gone are the days where you could go up to the cockpit and have a look around, arguably denying budding pilots of the future that moment of inspiration and awe - something I'm sure most pilots detest themselves (Ok - you get the annoying spolit PAX, but according to my brother-in-law, it evoked a great sense of pride for him seeing the enjoyment it bought)
Put it this way - If I was an insane terrorist wanting to inflict damage on a massive scale - Aircraft would not be on my agenda, when I could freely carry a backpack onto the subway / underground or Waterloo station at peak times and take out 2-widebody craft Passenger manifests amount of people without the hassle. To carry a hefty payload, you are talking Professional grade drones which run into the thousands of pounds. You are then in a niche, which makes it easier to trace back as well. It's a lot of agro and seems a bit cliche. As I said, I don't see RC cars going under buses in Central london blowing them up - why would drones be any different?
The 9/11 style attack worked - We all now live in fear of the unpredictable. That's more affective than killing a thousand people in a Jihadi's eyes.